How long does an iOS beta period last?

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Click to enlarge

Ever wondered how long a new version of iOS is in beta stage? Well, Will Hains did (via iPhoneClub). He used the available data from Wikipedia to create bar charts, revealing some interesting information.

The fastest release was iPhone OS 2.1 in 2008 (iPhone OS was later renamed to “iOS”), with a total of 50 days in beta spread over four developer versions. iOS 5.0, which released Oct. 12, 2011, spread over eight beta versions with a record-holding total of 128 days.

All iOS updates had at least three beta versions—except for iPhone OS 2.2, which had only two. However, its first beta was considerably longer than other beta 1 versions. Of course, we are all looking forward to the release of the iOS 6.0 final this fall, which is now a week into its second beta. Based on these charts, there is no way to predict a solid release date. But, there will likely be one to four more beta versions before regular iOS users can play with the ton of new features in iOS 6.

Click over to Will’s interactive graphic here.