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Still waiting for Android 6.0 Marshmallow to hit your phone or tablet? You’re in good company.
Though it’s been available to some since October 5, Marshmallow has made its way into just 0.7 percent of all Android devices, according to the latest stats provided by Google’s Android Developer Dashboard. That number is up from 0.5 percent a month ago.
Google tracked the market share of Marshmallow and its Android predecessors by looking at all the devices that visited the Google Play store during the seven-day period ending Monday.
The slow adoption rate for a new version of Android is a symptom of the upgrade process in which both smartphone makers and wireless carriers must test each new version from Google for each device before planning and implementing a rollout. That process frustrates Android users, who must wait weeks or months for the latest version, and it challenges developers, who must design apps for the different versions of Android.
However, Marshmallow’s rollout is actually proceeding faster than that of its predecessor, Lollipop, which was released in November 2014 and didn’t hit the dashboard until February 2015, according to blog site Android Police. The adoption rate has to be above 0.1 percent to show up on the dashboard.
Marshmallow comes preinstalled on Google’s new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P and was pushed to other Nexus devices starting October 5. That same month, LG kicked off the Marshmallow upgrade to its flagship G4 smartphone, but only in Poland.
Other device makers, such as Motorola, Sony and Samsung, are eyeing Marshmallow rollouts sometime over the start of 2016. As the largest Android vendor, Samsung will certainly bump up the share for Marshmallow once it starts pushing the new version to its flagship devices.
Among other flavors of Android, Lollipop grabbed a 32.6 percent slice of all devices. That number put it closer to surpassing KitKat, which lost a few points but maintained its lead with a 36.1 percent share. Jelly Bean also dropped a few points since a month ago, giving it a share of 24.7 percent.
Older versions of Android still retained enough of an audience to remain on the charts, with Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread nabbing shares of 2.7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
