Android Lollipop hits 3.3% adoption, KitKat passes 40%, and Jelly Bean continues to slide

Google today released its monthly update to the Platform Versions page for Android, and it looks like the latest version has managed to double its adoption share. That’s not saying much, of course, as Android 5.0 Lollipop has only hit 3.3 percent of the pie. Still, that did cut into the growth of Android 4.4 KitKat, once again the only other version to gain adoption share this month.

In fact, KitKat is about to pass Jelly Bean, which encompasses Android 4.1, Android 4.2, and Android 4.3. In other words, there will soon be a new Android king in town:

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More specifically, here are the changes between February and March:

• Android 5.0 Lollipop (November 2014): Up 1.7 points to 3.3 percent
• Android 4.4 KitKat (October 2013): Up 1.2 points to 40.9 percent
• Android 4.1/4.2/4.3 Jelly Bean (July 2012, November 2012, and July 2013): Down 1.9 points to 42.6 percent
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (December 2011): Down 0.5 points to 5.9 percent
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread (December 2010): Down 0.5 points to 6.9 percent
• Android 2.2 Froyo (May 2010): Unchanged at 0.4 percent

For the sake of comparison, here’s the Android adoption chart for February:

As with any adoption share updates from this tool, we have to point out that the data is gathered from the Google Play Store app, which requires Android 2.2 and above. This means devices running older versions are not included, nor are devices that don’t have Google Play installed (such as Amazon’s Fire line).

To recap, we currently have Jelly Bean in first, KitKat in second, Gingerbread in third, ICS in fourth, Lollipop in fifth, and Froyo in sixth. KitKat will overtake Jelly Bean before Lollipop passes Gingerbread, as unfortunate as that is.

As we’ve said before, Lollipop’s slow start is not surprising given the lukewarm popularity of the Nexus line and how long it takes for Android device manufacturers to push out updates. Multiple new Android devices were announced at Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona, and more are expected to follow in the coming days.

Nevertheless, Android 5.0 won’t see significant adoption for a few more months.

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