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iOS 18 Adoption Rates Reflect Slight Growth Amid General Trends
On Friday, Apple released the latest figures regarding the adoption rates of iOS 18, revealing that the new operating system has been installed on 68 percent of all iPhones as of January 21. This marks a modest increase compared to the previous year, when iOS 17 was reported to be running on 66 percent of devices. Notably, iOS 18’s adoption is higher among newer models, with 76 percent of iPhones released in the last four years utilizing the latest update.
The adoption rates for iOS 17 among newer iPhone models had been the same at 76 percent as noted in January 2024, indicating consistent uptake among recent releases.
iPadOS 18 Sees Similar Trends
iPad users are showing relatively stagnant adoption rates as well. Apple reported that 53 percent of all iPads are now using iPadOS 18, which mirrors the adoption level of iPadOS 17 one year prior. In terms of newer devices, 63 percent of iPads from the last four years have been updated to iPadOS 18, slightly up from the 61 percent that ran iPadOS 17 early last year.
Exploring Reasons for Incremental Growth
The modest increase in adoption rates begs the question of whether Apple’s marketing strategies, particularly those surrounding its generative AI features—collectively known as Apple Intelligence—are drawing in more users. However, Apple has not disclosed specific figures regarding user engagement with these features, leaving it unclear how much they have influenced overall update rates.
New Features May Drive Future Adoption
Speculation exists that Apple is keen to boost the adoption of its AI capabilities. In the latest beta release of iOS 18.3, the company has made it so that AI features are enabled by default during the initial onboarding process. Users will still have the option to opt-out, but doing so requires navigating through settings—a shift from the previous version, which required manual opt-in during the setup phase. This change could potentially lead to increased adoption of these new functionalities when the final version rolls out, possibly as soon as next week.
Source
www.engadget.com