Yesterday, Google held an event where it officially announced the two Nexus devices, the Next 5X and Nexus 6P. Most people focused on these two devices and forgot that the company also announced that Android has grown significantly and now has over 1.4 billion users globally.
These figures were revealed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai who said that this represents a growth of 400 million from the same time last year. Last year saw Android users grow past the 1 billion mark.
Commenting on this, Pichai said “The scale at which everything is working is pretty breath taking to see.”
Growth in Developing Markets
Google has also noticed that the number of Android users is growing significantly in developing countries. This is especially so in Indonesia and Vietman among other countries. The launch of Android One is some of these developing markets including Kenya will help Android numbers grow even further going forward.
Android Distribution
Since there are different Android version out there, knowing which one is popular and contributes to the larger part of the 1.4 billion is important. As of this month, Android KitKat is the most popular with over 39.2% market share. This is followed closely by Android Jelly Bean which has a market share of around 31%. The most recent version available for the public, Android Lollipop, is growing and has over 21% market share.
Read More: Over 21% of All Android Devices Are Running On Android Lollipop
Still Growing
Pichai said that Google plans to grow Android even further from this point. He did not clearly state how they will do this but expanding to developing markets using the Android One program seems like the perfect way.
The company confirmed that the new version, Android Marshmallow, will be rolling out as from next week on some Nexus devices. If you are using an Android One device, you will also be among the first people to get the update in the next few weeks.