Fragmentation is an evil that can almost be considered endemic in the world. Android OS. So much so that it seems that Google itself accepts its existence and has stopped worrying so much about it. The fact is that the latest known figures for the use of operating system distributions in November 2014 clearly indicate that there is no progress in this section.
According to data published by the Mountain View company itself, the number of devices that use Android Kitkat, a development that was launched a year ago, is only 34% (one in three). That is is widely outmatched by Jelly Bean which at the moment is the most used distribution worldwide with no less than 48,7%, which represents a decrease from 50,9 in the data of the previous study.
The truth is that it is clear that there is fragmentation in Android and it is not foreseen that this could change in the short or medium term. The reason, as we have once indicated, is that the large number and type of devices that use the operating system is very large, and for reasons of incompatibility of the hardware or evolution of the own manufacturers, some terminals remain "by the way". Therefore, it is materially impossible to change this unless Google itself makes a very sharp turn in its policy of use, something that does not seem to happen.
Android Lollipop not yet listed in the overview
Certainly the new version of the Android operating system is not seen in the summary of market shares that we have left before, which at first suggests that at the time of collecting the data Lollipop was not even 0,1% of the market (That is the minimum figure for a distribution to be included in the list). Of course, it seems that the adoption of the new development may be faster this time, since there are several models that have already confirmed the jump to Android 5.0.
The fact is that despite the good expectations of Android Lollipop, it does not seem that the fragmentation that exists will be solved with this version and, since Google is looking to have its operating system in as many terminals as possible, neither the thing is be in a great hurry to get this.
Source: Google Developers