iOS at 85% Adoption, Google Quiet About Lollipop

[Suika]

(click for sauce)

I can praise Apple for support, but I love my G4 so much more than an iPhone 6.

 

Funnily enough I recently got into an argument with my Dad and spending money on phones, and he brought up the comment that with an iPhone, the amount of support they receive and how long these devices actually lasts outweighs the fact that an LG G4 or Galaxy S6 might have a better camera now, because chances are that next year, the phones will see their final update (from the manufacturer), while an iPhone 4S JUST lost update support. On that same note comes the article.

 

Apple has some impressive numbers on iOS 8 adoption, 85% in fact. The majority of activated and regularly used devices are running the latest version of iOS, which is rather impressive but actually not too shocking given how easy updates are on iOS.

 

Apple has revealed that 85 percent of iPhone and iPad users are running iOS 8, while Google is keeping mysteriously quiet on Lollipop adoption figures. Apple, as it does monthly, has updated its iOS developer portal to show that more and more people are updating to the newest version of its mobile software. As it stands, 85 percent of iPhones and iPads are running iOS 8, while 13 percent run iOS 7 and two percent cling on to an earlier version of iOS.

 

The question I have then is why those 2% of users don't want to move on from older versions of iOS? Maybe just older folk who don't use their phones outside of making calls, and don't understand or need updates? Whichever the cause it is weird that anybody would prefer to stay on older versions.

 

Google, however, has been really quiet on Lollipop. The last update we saw on adoption numbers for lollipop was June 1st, and that was only at 12.4% as opposed to Apple's much larger 85%. Other numbers show KitKat at 40%, Jelly been at 37%, and even older versions at 6% or below.

 

It's a gloomier picture over at Camp Google. Like Apple, the firm typically updates its adoption figures monthly, but a quick visit to Google's Android developer portal shows that the firm hasn't done so since 1 June. It's unclear why, and we've put the question to Google, but the lack of an update suggests that the newest version of Android isn't being adopted quite so widely. Lollipop was running on 12.4 percent of Android smartphones and tablets on 1 June, a far cry from the 85 percent figure touted by Apple.

 

What's more, Android 5.0 accounts for 11.6 percent of devices, while Google's newer 5.1 version powers just 0.8 percent. The almost two month old figures also show that Android 4.4 Kitkat is still sitting pretty on 39.2 percent of Android devices, while Jelly Bean has a 37.4 percent share. Even older versions of the software, Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread and Froyo, can be found on 5.1 percent, 5.6 percent and 0.3 percent of Android devices respectively.

 

This isn't entirely Google's fault, considering it's also up to the phone/tablet manufacturer's discretion to update Android on their devices, but it does show that an iPhone will always get an update until it's cut out of Apple's support window, and people are almost always willing to update to it. When Lollipop was first released on the Nexus 5, I had to stay back on KitKat for awhile due to issues such as memory leak.

 

That's all without consideration of the more enthusiastic type, who'll go through the effort of rooting and installing ROMs making devices last longer than they could without, but that's not every users, that's not even the average user.

[qwertywarrior]

google doesnt really care one way or the other since it doesnt have any  real control

i dislike the link from theinquirer

[Kherm]

My iPad 1 can't upgrade past iOS 5, that may account for some of that 2%

[ShadowCaptain]

That is bloody outstanding tbh

 

 

The question I have then is why those 2% of users don't want to move on from older versions of iOS? Maybe just older folk who don't use their phones outside of making calls, and don't understand or need updates? Whichever the cause it is weird that anybody would prefer to stay on older versions.

 

Either older people who dont understand how.... OR most likely, business that have specific apps and software on locked down ipads, or software that will not run on new devices/versions of iOS etc

 

Like for example say a hospital that uses a specific iPad app, might not bother updating as they might only use one app

 

Could also be people on super old devices 

[AnnoyedShelf]

I honestly kind of hate Lollipop.  There are so many goddamn problems with it.  I keep having to flash files to fix issues.

[SPG]

well, you also have to keep in mind that apple users are somewhat forced to update or they cant download a lot of apps on the store

[Clyne]

The question I have then is why those 2% of users don't want to move on from older versions of iOS? Maybe just older folk who don't use their phones outside of making calls, and don't understand or need updates? Whichever the cause it is weird that anybody would prefer to stay on older versions.

 

Stupid iOS 7/8 skin that i hate that makes me want to downgrade to iOS 6. I'm using to using iOS 4 on my 3G and used to old layout. I'm probs have to jailbreak my iPod Touch 5G to downgrade to iOS 6.

That's my reason, i hate iOS 7/8.

YT is locked to 7 and up so i'm screwed if i want to go back to 6.....

[NinjaTitan]

That is bloody outstanding tbh

 

 

 

Either older people who dont understand how.... OR most likely, business that have specific apps and software on locked down ipads, or software that will not run on new devices/versions of iOS etc

 

Like for example say a hospital that uses a specific iPad app, might not bother updating as they might only use one app

 

Could also be people on super old devices 

 

Health care is actually a big one. We have modern implementations, it just takes a LONG time to develop proper applications given how secure and private our work product needs to be. You'll see some of your doctors utilizing tablets and dedicated apps to view your charts and scans - but those apps are highly locked down and exceptionally hard to break into short of social engineering, and for a reason. So the software doesn't up and change on a yearly basis. What works, stays. More or less. 

 

@Suika, awesome post! This is what I was expecting when I came to this site, solid work. 

[Suika]

@Suika, awesome post! This is what I was expecting when I came to this site, solid work. 

Thank you. I'm usually very good at news posts, but when you have kids copying and pasting all of the good articles before you can even complete yours, it's difficult to get quality content in.

[79wjd]

The question I have then is why those 2% of users don't want to move on from older versions of iOS? Maybe just older folk who don't use their phones outside of making calls, and don't understand or need updates? Whichever the cause it is weird that anybody would prefer to stay on older versions.

The only reason my mom upgraded from her 3G was because she had to switch carriers (the 3G wasn't supported) and because the battery life was getting pretty poor. And I'm still using my first gen touch for a music player for my car, and my dad does the same. So there's three devices running 3.1.3, two of which are still being used and one of which would be if the battery life didn't get as bad as it did. 

[Xorbot]

After moving to Android for the first time for a couple of years, I might head back to a 6S if/when it comes.

 

Notice how 6S when pronounced sounds like "success"?

[totjup5]

Updates often also depend on carrier approval too, Verizon likes to take their time...

[Paranoid Kami]

My Nexus 4 still gets updates.

[Techhog]

[KirbyTech]

 

 Whichever the cause it is weird that anybody would prefer to stay on older versions.

What about those who are using older devices like the iPod 4th gen or the original iPad. I think that is most of those who didn't update to IOS 7 or newer.

[multifrag]

It's all down to apple being the manufacturer of the phone and the developer of software while Google is only the developer. Same shit will be with windows 7 and windows 8.1. Heck windows xp is still being used.

[fosterwater]

I honestly kind of hate Lollipop.  There are so many goddamn problems with it.  I keep having to flash files to fix issues.

Get a better ROM then, its not lollipop its the bad ROM you have

[AnnoyedShelf]

Get a better ROM then, its not lollipop its the bad ROM you have

nah it's definitely lollipop.  tried several.

[Sidiox]

Lollipop is bad. I've not heard of a single person not having problems with it, across many different devices.

So that might account for lollipops bad adoption

Also Android device vendors abandon their device after a few months so not many devices have gotten a lollipop update yet and they will not get it ever

[zanduh]

The Apple side is impressive and the android side is to be expected. Fragmentation and android skins will do that to you. When I had an iPhone it was cool updating to the next iteration of iOS and immediately seeing all of my apps ready with updates to support the next version. 

 

Also it's cool to see a thread where people can say Apple is doing something well without people mindlessly lashing out at the company. 

[asker509]

Lolipop has been nothing but problems for me getting rid of widgets really hurt in used them a lot, not to mention the technical side I have had memory leaks, lower battery life, and I have to clear my cache every 2 weeks or my phone gets slow.

Oh and I almost forgot the confusing things they are doing with the silent mode it changes a lot in have been late several times because of it muting my alarms

[TomvanWijnen]

IMO Android Lollipop is ridiculously ugly, so I really don't want to update to it. Eventhough my OPO has the touchscreen issue, I ain't gonna update to Android Lollipop.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just letting you know Apple is extremely well know for neutering all capabilities of phones running old os version (many apps won't be allowed to be updated, or installed) between that and them basically forcing the new os down your throat ofc adoption is high.

One actually would expect it to be higher until you recall the seemingly constant issues people have with last generation devices that run significantly worse on newer ios iterations (read basically unusable. Major issue with iPhone 4s and before). Indeed lollipops issues with older devices are child's play with the way iPhone 4s ran on penultimate iOS.

This is interesting facts to bring up but is in no way indicative of a good job or bad job by Apple.

Just my two cents.

[zacRupnow]

Because every Visual and UI change in Lollipop is fucking garbage compared to Kitkat. Although still decades better than iCrApple.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Can someone explain to me why adaption even matters. Other then having a split ecosystem as all android apps run on all other versions of android (correct?).