Android Marshmallow has not yet been discarded

Google launches Android O on Monday night, bringing the world's most popular operating system to version number eight.

Fragmentation has been a problem for Google for years. Where Apple sees the majority of its users going to the latest version of iOS within a few weeks, Google stays for a variety of reasons with a list of Android versions that are still in use. The slow transition from one Android version to the next is mainly due to the way Android reaches end users.

For example, people with a Google-developed Nexus or Pixel smartphone can switch to Android on-Monday, while people with an Android handset from another hardware maker have to wait for that creator. Because many companies have built their own skin over Android, they must first make that own layer about Android suitable for the most recent release of the operating system. And that process takes as fast as a couple of weeks. In some cases, even months will go over before a hardware maker updates. And in many cases, after a year or two, no updates are made for smartphones.

The official name of Android O has not yet been announced by Google, but it seems strongly that it will be Android Oreo.