iOS 16 adoption continues to grow as Apple sells more iPhone 14 units and resolves some of the early software bugs. According to the latest data from Mixpanel, iOS 16 is now installed on 68.95% of iPhones three months after release, a number that outpaces Android adoption of the latest software.
iOS 16 adoption numbers impress
Mixpanel is a third-party analytics company that bases its iOS adoption data on data from apps that use Mixpanel technology. Apple itself tracks iOS adoption via its developer website, but the company hasn’t yet updated that new data to reflect the launch of iOS 16.
Here’s the current breakdown of iOS software adoption, according to the Mixpanel data:
- iOS 16: 68.95% of iPhones
- iOS 15: 24.78% of iPhones
- Earlier: 6.27% of iPhones
As always, it’s interesting to compare how iOS adoption compares to Android adoption. Google has signficantly scaled back the pace at which it updates this data, however. It only offers adoption numbers via its Android Studio developer tool, no longer readily publishing data via its website.
In August, it was estimated that the nearly one-year-old release of Android 12 was running on 13.3% of devices; an estimated 27% of devices were running Android 11 at this time. Google released Android 13 later in August, but no adoption data is yet available for that update.
9to5Mac’s Take
Apple continues to impress with the pace at which it incentivizes iPhone users to update to the latest version of iOS. Of course, the biggest reason for this is Apple including major new features not only in the initial release of iOS 16, but also in subsequent updates like iOS 16.1 and iOS 16.2 (coming this month).
This year, in particular, the addition of new Lock Screen customization options in iOS 16 has proven to be a popular change. This is similar to the trends we saw with iOS 14 and Home Screen widgets, which led to record-breaking adoption of the update.
Notably, this fast-paced adoption comes as Apple has made it easier for users to also hang back on a previous version of iOS and still receive security updates. When iOS 16 was released, for instance, the company primarily prompted users to install iOS 15.7, while iOS 16 was listed as an udpate that was “also available.”
As for the Android vs iOS adoption rate debate, it’s less relevant than it used to be. To its credit, Google and Android manufacturers have done a better job of rolling out important security updates to devices regardless of which Android version they’re running.
Are you running iOS 16 on your iPhone? What are some of your favorite new features? Let us know down in the comments.
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