When it comes to iOS 17, iPhone users are not in such a rush to press the "Update" button

Apple had not released adoption numbers for iOS 17 until now. On its Developer site, Apple revealed that 76% of all iPhone models introduced in the last four years that completed a transaction in the App Store this past Sunday, were running an iOS 17 build. 20% of such models were running an iOS 16 build while 4% of these phones were running a version of iOS older than iOS 16.

66% of all active iPhones that did business in the App Store this past Sunday, regardless of how old they were, had an iOS 17 build downloaded on the device. On 23% of these devices, iOS 16 was running the show, and 11% were using an iOS build older than iOS 16. 

Last year at this time, 81% of iPhone models introduced in the last four years were running iOS 16 indicating that there has been a slowdown in the adoption rate of the latest iPhone operating system by iPhone users. Apple released iOS 17 this past September and the latest stable version, iOS 17.3, was released last month. iOS 17.4 is expected to be released during the first week of March containing huge changes for those living in one of the 27 EU member states.

As for iPadOS, 61% of all iPad tablets introduced in the last four years that transacted in the App Store last Sunday were running iPadOS 17 while 29% of such iPads were running iPadOS 16. 10% were relying on iPadOS 15 or older. Looking at all active iPad models that completed a transaction in the App Store last Sunday, 53% of those tablets had iPadOS 17 installed. iPadOS 16 powered 29% of such iPads while the remaining 18% had iPadOS 15 or older running the show.

Last February, 53% of iPad models introduced in the last four years were running iPadOS 16 which means that unlike iOS 17, adoption of iPadOS 17 has been better than the rate seen last year.

We hear that iOS 18 is going to be a major update with plenty of AI capabilities being added. Apple will first let us know about iOS 18 in June when it hosts its WWDC 2024 Developer Conference in June. If iOS 18 lives up tot he expectations, we could see a huge adoption rate next year.