iOS 11 adoption can’t keep up with iOS 10

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iPhone X
iPhone X wasn't the first, but it certainly boosted the trend.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

More than half of all compatible devices are now running iOS 11. It has taken just over six weeks for the update to reach this milestone since its public release. iOS 10 managed to get there a little faster.

Apple’s latest adoption figures show that as of November 6, an impressive 52 percent of devices have iOS 11 installed. Just 38 percent are still running iOS 10, while only 10 percent are running earlier versions of Apple’s mobile operating system.

iOS 11 is a massive upgrade

The biggest reason for iOS 11’s fast adoption rate is the new features it brings. Apple has overhauled the lock screen, made Control Center customizable, improved Siri, and added a whole bunch of new emoji characters.

iPad users also get drag-and-drop, a brand new dock, and lots more.

iOS 10 took off faster

Despite all this, iOS 10’s adoption rate that even faster. More than 60 percent of devices had been updated in just over a month after its public release last year. A whopping 76 percent were running it after just three months.

There could be a few reasons behind the slightly slower adoption rate for iOS 11. Some might say the update still contains too many bugs and instabilities, though Apple has fixed a lot of this in more recent iOS 11 releases.

The late launch of iPhone X could also be playing a part. Apple’s latest iPhone launches with the latest version of its software every year, bumping those adoption figures as users upgrade.

But the somewhat disappointing iPhone 8 series won’t have sold anywhere near as well as iPhone 7 did, and iPhone X has only been available for a few days.

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