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Lollipop isn't making a dent in Android usage numbers (yet)

Now that Android 5.0 Lollipop is finally rolling out to devices around the globe, you might be wondering just how much of an impact it's making on the Android ecosystem. The short answer: not much. Google has released its latest Android usage stats, and Lollipop doesn't even register yet -- in other words, less than 0.1 percent of Google Play users have moved to the new software. That's not surprising given that both the upgrade and Lollipop-native devices like the Nexus 6 are weeks old at best, but it suggests that the new OS will take a while before it makes its presence known.

How about everyone else, then? As you might have guessed, KitKat now reigns supreme. It has the largest share of any Android point release, hitting 33.9 percent (versus 20.9 percent just three months ago). Use of older versions is going down across the board, too, which suggests that many phone and tablet owners are moving to relatively recent code. It's hard to know if KitKat has reached its peak yet, but the slew of expected Lollipop updates hints that it won't be top dog for too much longer.

Photo by Will Lipman.

Android version share, December 2014