The number of Android devices using KitKat 4.4 increased to 39.1% at the beginning of January, according to Digital Spy.

Figures released by Google show that the operating system jumped by 5.2% since the month before, but the latest version of Android continues to lag.

Lollipop has been slowly rolled out to a limited number of smartphones and is not even mentioned on the Android Developers Dashboard.

The page specifically mentions that "any versions with less than 0.1% distribution are not shown".

When the operating system was launched in November, Google said it would be on its way to "most Nexus devices".

Android Jelly Bean, which was released in 2012, still has the largest share at 46%, but the number has decreased slightly from last month's 48.7%.