Android 16 has been out for 7 months, and it’s not even on 10% of smartphones yet

The fragmentation of Google‘s mobile operating system is as old as the platform itself, and the latest distribution data confirm a trend that has long been established.

About seven months after the official release, Android 16 struggles to establish itself as the dominant standard, reaching a market share that stops at 7.5%.

The numbers, updated as of December 1, 2025, offer a clear snapshot of a vast ecosystem that is inherently slow to update, where the latest software version remains a privilege for a minority, despite having been launched almost a year ago.

Android 16 struggles to take off

The data analysis shows that the adoption rate of Android 16 has been held back by release timelines far from immediate from major manufacturers.

Although Google Pixel devices received the update promptly, other crucial market players took much longer. Samsung, which holds a huge share of Android users, began distributing its Android 16-based update only in September.

Other brands such as OPPO and OnePlus pushed their updates toward the end of 2025, while smaller brands like Nothing completed the rollout only in the first half of the current year.

This physiological delay explains why, despite the software’s theoretical availability, its actual presence on users’ devices remains marginal.

As the latest iteration tries to gain ground, it’s the previous version that holds the lead, albeit with numbers less overwhelming than in the past.

Android 15 appears to be the most used version worldwide, installed on 19.3% of active devices. However, this figure deserves reflection: it is a percentage lower than what typically characterizes the leading version. Consider that in earlier measurements, such as July 2024, Android 13 dominated with almost 21%.

The second position is held by Android 14, still solidly present on 17.2% of smartphones, followed closely by Android 13 and Android 11, which continue to show notable resilience to obsolescence.

The farewell to KitKat and the long tail of obsolescence

A significant detail from the latest report is the definitive disappearance of Android 4.4 KitKat from official statistics, marking the end of an era for one of the longest-lived versions in the history of the green robot.

Nevertheless, the so-called “long tail” of obsolete versions remains fairly populated. Adding up the percentages, a substantial share of users still lives with outdated versions such as 12, 10 or even 9 (Pie), demonstrating how the smartphone lifecycle is lengthening, often beyond the software support period guaranteed by manufacturers.

Data collected by Google show an evolving picture but static in its underlying dynamics. The race to the latest version remains a hurdle-filled competition, where hardware diversity and the update policies of individual manufacturers dictate the timing.