Over 30% of iPhones are running iOS 14 exactly a week after the release, according to data from an analytics company. That’s a 50% faster adoption rate than iOS 13 a year ago.
Mixpanel reports that 30.59% of iPhones are on the latest version on Wednesday, Sept. 23. iOS 14 was introduced to the public on Sept. 16.
In 2019, iOS 13 was only on 20.26% of Apple handsets a week after the release. Before that, iOS 12 was at 19.12% after a week.
Now, of course, iOS 13 use is dropping rapidly as iPhone users switch to the newer version. It’s currently down at 62.01%, according to Mixpanel. Usage of iOS 12 and all previous versions remains nearly constant. In the past 3 weeks, it’s only moved from 7.6% to 7.38%.
The data is based on visits to websites and apps which incorporate Mixpanel’s analytics suite.
The analytics company just collects this data and doesn’t theorize about why iOS 14 adoption is unusually quick. But one possibility is the hubbub surrounding widgets, one of the highlights of the new version. Users are really getting in creating custom Home screens.
Chart: Mixpanel
A slower iOS 14 adoption rate for business iPhones
Mixpanel shows a rapid move among all iPhone users to iOS 14, but the pace is significantly slower for handsets used for work, according to Wandera. This company makes a cloud security solution, and its database of protected devices shows that among handsets that provide some work functionality, iOS 14 adoption was still at 10.4% as of September 22.
“While there is no single explanation for the lag in adoption of iOS 14 on work phones, it may be due to the fact that IT administrators have more control than ever when it comes to rolling out iOS updates to their employees’ devices,” notes Liarna La Porta from Wandera.
But IT over-controlling managers aren’t at fault for slower iOS 14 adoption. It’s up to corporate IT departments to be sure that the software employees need is compatible with Apple’s operating system update. “There is a growing number of services that now need to be updated and tested by IT to ensure they work with every new OS version, no matter the platform,” said La Porta. “So it is easy to understand why IT teams are choosing to delay software updates on mobile to ensure a seamless transition for their users.”
