iOS 26 has been available for nearly four months, yet reporting from Statcounter indicates the iPhone update is lagging significantly behind predecessors in adoption, with most users opting to stay on iOS 18.
Meanwhile, data from TelemetryDeck paints a different, more optimistic picture.
Is iOS 26 adoption lagging behind predecessors?
Statcounter has been tracking usage data for browsers, OS versions, and search engines for years.
And its latest reporting on iOS 26 adoption tells a very clear story: the vast majority of iPhone users are still running iOS 18.
Global iOS version data as of January 2026 shows the following iOS 18 usage among active iPhones:
- iOS 18.7: 33.8%
- iOS 18.6: 25.2%
- iOS 18.5: 5.6%
Here are the percentages for iOS 26 usage:
- iOS 26.1: 10.6%
- iOS 26.2: 4.6%
- iOS 26.0: 1.1%
So four months after its release, iOS 26 is only in use by about 16% of iPhone users, while iOS 18 remains over 60%.
Is this normal for new OS versions? Not according to Statcounter data.
In January 2025, over 60% of users were on some version of the latest iOS 18 software—roughly four times as many as are on iOS 26 in the same timeframe. In 2024, iOS 17 similarly had over 50% adoption already.
Update: As a second reference point, TelemetryDeck has iOS 26 adoption performing much better, with around 60% of users on the latest software and about 37% still on iOS 18. Clearly, the two services have differing methodology in tracking user data.
The difference between the two services is that Statcounter is tracking iOS 26 adoption via web impressions, while TelemetryDeck tracks directly via apps that use its SDK. Data from third-party developers appears to be closer to TelemetryDeck’s numbers rather than Statcounter.
9to5Mac’s Take
Apple doesn’t share OS usage numbers very often, leaving third-party sources the best way to judge a software release’s adoption.
If these numbers are anywhere near accurate, it begs the question: why are users holding off upgrading?
Perhaps it’s Apple’s highlighting that battery life might be impacted, or its delay in making iOS 26 the ‘recommended’ update in Settings, or concerns about the Liquid Glass design.
Why do you think iOS 26 adoption is so low? Let us know in the comments.
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