Google's Android Marshmallow is now running on 4.6 percent of active devices

Google’s latest Marshmallow OS is now running on 4.6 percent of Android devices, claims the company. In a recent Google Play distribution data chart, Google states that Marshmallow has an active share, which is exactly double from last month. Earlier last month, Android 6.0 Marshmallow was running on just 2.3 percent of active Android devices. The updated distribution data for the seven-day period, which ended on April 4, offers the number of Android Marshmallow-based devices logging into the store is steadily rising, while the share of Android Lollipop and Android KitKat powered devices is dropping gradually. [caption id=“attachment_307764” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Android Developers[/caption] However, majority of Android devices are still running Android Lollipop. Comparing to the same time last year, Lollipop was already at 5.4 percent. Currently, Android Lollipop sits with highest market share of 35.8 percent while on the other hand, KitKat has a market share of 33.4 percent, which has seen a drop of 0.9 percent compared to last month. The outdated JellyBean OS (4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) still runs on 21.3 percent compared to 22.3 percent last month. Even the Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread still run on 2.2 percent and 2.6 percent devices respectively. This month, neither Android 2.2 Froyo nor Android 2.3 Gingerbread distribution has moved. Depending on how Android N would be, some OEMs might find it more worthwhile to adopt that version sooner rather than go through Android Marshmallow first. This might be the case for a few devices to get better multitasking features in the next version.