US EditionStill Haven't Updated to iOS 26? You're Far From Alone - Surprisingly
Statcounter data shows iOS 26 adoption at 16% globally, significantly lower than iOS 18's over 60% usage nearly four months after release.
- Nearly four months after release, StatCounter finds only around 15 to 16% of active iPhones run iOS 26, while most remain on iOS 18.
- Design and update-policy changes include iOS 26's Liquid Glass visual overhaul and Apple’s continued security support for older iOS 18, reducing upgrade urgency.
- The breakdown shows iOS 26.1 at 10.6%, iOS 26.2 at 4.6% and iOS 26.0 at 1.1%, with StatCounter deriving these estimates from web‑traffic analytics.
- The adoption shortfall shows iOS 26 adoption rate running at less than one-quarter that of recent predecessors, prompting questions about why users hold off upgrading.
- With Apple rarely sharing OS metrics, MacRumors readers this year show 25.7% on iOS 26 versus 89.3% on iOS 18 last year, highlighting atypical hesitation.
13 Articles
13 Articles
iOS 26: Has Liquid Glass failed?
Could it be that former Apple designer Alan Dye’s swan song, Liquid Glass, has failed? Statcounter data seems to show that iOS 26 adoption lags that of previous operating system releases at this stage of the release cycle. It indicates that around 64.6% of users are still running iOS 18 — with just 16.3% on iOS 26. This data suggests adoption to be far, far slower than we’ve seen before. In January 2025, more than 60% of users were already runni…
According to figures from the market researchers at Stat Counter, only 15 to 16 percent of the world's active iPhones iOS 26 have installed. iOS 26.1 with 10.6 percent is the largest share, the update to iOS 26.2 released only in December runs to 4.6 percent of the devices. The original iOS 26.0 has remained 1.1 percent. iOS 18 still accounts for around 60 percent of the devices, most of which are iOS 18.6 and iOS 18.7. This is an unusually low …
Even after four months, most iPhone owners prefer Apple's previous operating system, iOS 18. iOS 26 is showing extremely poor numbers.
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