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iOS 8 adoption hits 30% after first weekend of iPhone 6 sales, iPhone 6 usage outpaces 6 Plus

While iOS 8 adoption was lagging behind last year’s release at just 15% before the official launch of the new iPhones on Friday, it’s now hovering at approximately 30% after record first weekend sales for the new iPhones. That stat, which comes from research and analytics firms Fiksu, Mixpanel, Appsee, & Chitika is below the almost 50% of users iOS 7 had this many days into launch last year.

Fiksu and Mixpanel also offered data on iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus adoption following the first weekend of sales. Both show that iPhone 6 is outpacing iPhone 6 Plus quite significantly after the first few days in customers’ hands, but it’s quite likely that could be due to a much tighter supply of iPhone 6 Plus.

The Wall Street Journal reported in the days leading up to the iPhone’s retail launch on Friday that Apple was producing significantly less iPhone 6 Plus models than iPhone 6, and availability of the iPhone 6 Plus seemed to generally be in shorter supply with most retailers including Apple. That could account for why both Fiksu and Mixpanel are showing 6 adoption outpacing 6 Plus after the first few days. Currently, Fiksu shows the iPhone 6 at approximately 1.7% of users, while the 6 Plus comes in at just 0.3%. Compare that to 0.61% for iPhone 5s and 0.24% for iPhone 5c from last year’s launch.

Numbers from Mixpanel show a similar situation with iPhone 6 at 2.5% of its users vs 0.4% for 6 Plus. It’s possible, however, we could see the gap close as iPhone 6 Plus becomes more readily available. 

Apple announced earlier today that it sold a record 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units during its first weekend of sales, but it has not yet released official numbers on iOS 8 adoption.

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Comments

  1. Carlos R. Batista - 10 years ago

    Well i bought my iPhone6+ 1 hour after online pre orders begun and it was already into 3-4 weeks delivery territory, so while those stats represent current usage, I am pretty sure is far off from the actual device sold/preordered record.

  2. Cory © (@Nardes) - 10 years ago

    Went into Best Buy on Saturday to see the 6+ and chatted with the lady at their mobile dept. She said so many people came in for the 6+ but since they didn’t have any (they only got a demo unit), they just went with the 6 instead (even though they still wanted the 6+ after seeing both units).

    I’m sure that’s happening everywhere, so for a while that’s really gonna mess up the 6 to6+ sales ratio

  3. iphone6splus - 10 years ago

    Many are returning 6 Plus in exchange for 6.

    • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

      The same 8 people on various blogs does not count as “many”.

      Regardless, these numbers do not indicate any of what you suggest….the 6 Plus supply is greatly constrained. Most preorders of the device have even been delivered yet.

  4. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    Why does no one see fit to acknowledge that the percentages of adoption cannot even be accurately compared, because of the more than 100 million new iOS devices on the market in last 12 months since iOS 7 was released?

    % of users YOY is meaningless with that kind of growth. A more accurate analysis would probably show a greater number of actual users updating to iOS 8, despite somewhat lower “percentage of users”.

    Its impressive nonetheless. I expect by the end of October that iOS 8 will have over 70%. By Fall of next year it will likewise top 90% like iOS did.

    • 89p13 - 10 years ago

      ” I expect by the end of October that iOS 8 will have over 70%. By Fall of next year it will likewise top 90% like iOS did.”

      And we’ll all be downloading iOS 9 and drooling

  5. 89p13 - 10 years ago

    I was POSITIVE I wanted the 6 Plus – as was my wife! After handling both units at the AT&T store yesterday, I struggling to change my on-line order to the 6. My wife said “Go Big or Go Home” and she’s still wanting the 6 Plus.

    6 Plus is just too big to envision carrying in a Seidio holster clip on my belt – I’d be paranoid of dropping the beast.

  6. iSRS - 10 years ago

    I preordered a 6. It is an amazing device. The first minute I put it in my pocket? I instantly knew I made the right choice.

    Also, my cousin went to Verizon and was #11 in line. They had no 6 plus, so she left with a 6.

    Not sure we will get a “is 5.5″ too big” answer from the iPhone.

  7. Brent Howatt - 10 years ago

    I was away from home, so I waited a few days to download iOS 8 onto my 64GB iPhone 5. I backed it up prior to the install, and I’m damn glad I did. The phone has locked up tight several times. Fortunately, mine will respond eventually to repeated attempts to hard reboot it, unlike some who have reported having to let the battery drain completely before they can get a restart. I haven’t reloaded the iOS 7 backup yet, but I’m thinking about it.

  8. h00ch - 10 years ago

    It would be interesting to hear about the issues surrounding wifi that many people are experiencing. 10 pages of complaints so far. You can find it here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6546549

  9. leifashley - 10 years ago

    Keep in mind… it’s lagging behind because people are waiting on phones.

    • Ulises G. Jorge Bidó - 10 years ago

      Or it might be the size requirements; you need almost 6GB free on your phone in order to upgrade over the air even though the size of the upgrade is less than 1GB. So you either have to erase a bunch of stuff or upgrade via iTunes (which is what I did).

  10. ronannarbor - 10 years ago

    Completely meaningless report considering there are almost no live units of the iPhone 6 Plus out there yet…this would be completely different if they had any iPhone Plus phones to sell…in SE Michigan we have 3 Apple stores…by estimate, each store had about 1500 iPhone 6’s, and about 20 iPhone Plus’s…

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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