Looking for the latest stats on the most used Android versions in 2016? We’ve got the latest statistics based on real web traffic which relates to the number of phones actually in use. This data is particularly important if you’re wondering which older versions of Android your mobile app should support.
Android OS fragmentation
Fragmentation in the Android world is not just about phone models, screen sizes, and hardware specs, but also about OS versions. While Google regularly updates Android, phone manufacturers aren’t swift in terms of offering updates to their users and there are always some older phones which may have a significant installed base but don’t get updated at all.
This results in a large market share for some older versions of the OS making it problematic for app developers which must make sure that their app actually works for all users. To make things easier for you, we release the latest stats showing which Android versions were the most popular in Q2 2016 in selected countries. For this purpose we use our web traffic data from thousands of partner websites using DeviceAtlas device detection platform.
Marshmallow gaining ground but Jelly Bean still popular
With the approaching release of Android 7.0 “Nougat”, it makes sense to take a closer look at the popularity of different Android versions in Q2 2016. It’s not really surprising that versions older than 6.0 (Marshmallow) get a lot of web traffic share. However, it's striking that in many countries the combined web traffic generated by the Jelly Bean (4.3) and lower can be on a similar level than some of the newer releases.
The following stats show that developed countries generally favour newer versions of Android. This is likely due to a larger share of new, Android 6-based phones, as well as high-end phones which get updated sooner than mid-range or low-end devices used in emerging markets.
This is particularly true for Germany, UK, Canada, and USA where Marshmallow got around 20-30% web traffic share in Q2 2016. At the same time, in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, and Malaysia Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) and older got over 20% share.
Europe
Americas
Africa and Asia