iOS 8 adoption rates are already nearing 50 per cent of compatible devices, Apple has confirmed.
With the iOS 8 update having been released late last Wednesday, September 17, Apple has confirmed that within the first five days, the latest version of the company’s mobile OS was already running on 46 per cent of compatible smartphones and tablets.
This is in stark contrast to Android updates which often take months to stretch beyond single digit adoption rates.
Highlighting the lack of fragmentation in Apple’s ecosystem, Android 4.4 KitKat currently runs on just 24.5 per cent of devices despite having been introduced last year.
With iOS 8 powering 46 per cent of devices by September 21, Apple’s figures showed that 49 per cent of iPhones and iPads were still running iOS 7. Just 5 per cent of the company’s millions of devices were running an earlier OS.
iOS 8 is compatible with a wide range of Apple products. Starting with the iPhone 4S and including the iPhone 5S, 5C and 5, as well as all but the first iPad, these iOS usage figures include the 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sold over the launch weekend.
Although impressive compared with Android updates, iOS 8 adoption rates are significantly lower than last year’s arrival of iOS 7.
With some claiming iOS 7 adoption was twice as high as iOS 8 during the opening 24 hour window, the drop off can be attributed to the more incremental nature of the update. iOS 7 was the biggest change to Apple’s mobile OS since the original iPhone was released.
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