To be precise, the stats are based on active devices interacting with Google Play over the period of a week. (“Data collected during a 7-day period ending on December 11, 2017. Any versions with less than 0.1% distribution are not shown”)

The main takeaway is the slow increase for Android “Nougat” 7.x. It has only gained 2.7 extra points in percentage share, but this represents a 13.1% increase month on month.

If Nougat has waxed, then KitKat and Marshmallow have waned. They are down from  14.5% to 13. 8% (KitKat) and from 32.0% to 30.9% (Marshmallow).

Android “Oreo” v8.0 now takes a minuscule 0.6% share.

See Google’s developers dashboard for the full latest stats.

Monthly comparison

So, here are the detailed Android platform share figures, with comparison to the previous month for some context…

2.3 – 2.3.2 Gingerbread – disappeared
2.3.3 – 2.3.7 – (was 0.5%) – 0.4%
3.2 Honeycomb – disappeared
4.0.3 – 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich – (was 0.5%) – 0.5%
4.1 Jelly Bean – (was 2.2%) – 2.0%
4.2 Jelly Bean – (was 3.1%) – 3.0%
4.3 Jelly Bean – (was 0.9%) – 0.9%
4.4 KitKat – (was 13.8%) – 13.4%
5.0 Lollipop – (was 6.4%) – 6.1%
5.1 Lollipop – (was 20.8%) – 20.2%
6.0 Marshmallow – (was 30.9%) – 29.7%
7.0 Nougat – (was 17.6%) – 19.3%
7.1 Nougat – (was 3.0%) – 4.0%
8.0 Oreo – (was 0.3%) – 0.5%

See the full stats at developer.android.com/about/dashboards/index.html