At the Google I/O 2019, amid all the big product unveilings, the search giant announced that more than 2.5 billion devices are running on Android globally. This is an increase of 500 million devices in two years, the last time Google made this revelation.
However, this impressive feat gets shadowed by the fact that merely 10 percent of the total devices mentioned are running on the latest Android 9 (Pie) version. While the growth is visible compared to the numbers of Oreo from 2018, Google still faces a huge task to match up to its competition, that is Apple.
More than 50 percent of iOS devices get the latest version in less than a month. And here we are talking about Android Pie making its way to 10 percent of the almost 2.5 billion devices in more than nine months.
Google has tried all kinds of strategy to get its partners and handset makers to push the latest version updates for their respective devices. And while those efforts have reaped benefits with programs like Android One (with brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi and Nokia under the wings), the fragmentation of Android fails to help Google’s cause.
Devices on Various Android Versions:
- Oreo - 28.3 percent
Nougat - 19.2 percent
Marshmallow - 16.9 percent
Lollipop - 14.5 percent
Pie - 10.4 percent
As you can see here Pie, which is the latest available Android version ranks fifth in the list, while Oreo from 2017 (mostly available in 2018) leads the charts for the most available Android flavour.
What hasn’t helped Google’s case over the years is leading names like Samsung and Huawei and even Xiaomi (with MiUi) have adopted their own Android flavours, updating which has taken longer than the search engine giant would’ve liked.
Having said that, Android’s target to reach 3 billion devices (with non-Google users in China included) won’t be an easy feat. Hopefully, Google can manage this growth by offering its latest versions, instead of relying on old Android flavours that are unlikely to get security updates in the long run.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)