KitKat beats out Jelly Bean versions for the first time, as Lollipop gathers steam – April data

Google released the Android distribution numbers for April 2015, and, for the first time, KitKat surpassed Jelly Bean versions as the most popular version of Android.

To give developers a better understanding of the Android ecosystem, Google releases monthly estimates of the relative number of devices running each version of Android. This includes devices running Android 2.2 or higher that have checked in Google’s Play Store servers over the previous week.

Data for April shows two interesting developments. The first is KitKat’s rise to absolute dominance, with Android 4.4 now running on 41.4%, more than the combined share of Android 4.1, 4.2, and 4.2, which is 40.7%. KitKat (API level 19) has had the largest share of any single API level for a while now, but until April, Jelly Bean (API level 16-18) held the lead when counted together.

The second noteworthy development is the new entry of Android 5.1 Lollipop (API level 22). The new version was officially introduced on March 9, and it managed to get on the radar with a 0.4% share in less than a month. That’s compared to Android 5.0, which needed a couple of months to register (versions with less than 0.1% share are not included in this stat).

Lollipop is now at a combined 5.4% (compared to 3.3% last month), and with updates reaching more devices, as well as a couple of real heavy hitters in the pipeline, its share will jump even more next month.