iOS 26 is exhibiting unusually gradual adoption amongst iPhone customers months after launch, in line with third-party analytics.
Utilization knowledge revealed by StatCounter (by way of Cult of Mac) for January 2026 signifies that solely round 15 to 16% of energetic iPhones worldwide are operating any model of iOS 26. The breakdown exhibits iOS 26.1 accounting for roughly 10.6% of gadgets, iOS 26.2 for about 4.6%, and the unique iOS 26.0 launch at roughly 1.1%. In distinction, greater than 60% of iPhones tracked by StatCounter stay on iOS 18, with iOS 18.7 and iOS 18.6 alone representing a majority of energetic gadgets.
Historic comparisons spotlight how atypical this adoption curve seems. StatCounter knowledge from January 2025 exhibits that roughly 63% of iPhones have been operating some model of iOS 18 about 4 months after its launch. In January 2024, iOS 17 had reached roughly 54% adoption over an identical timeframe, whereas iOS 16 surpassed 60% adoption by January 2023.
Based mostly on these figures, iOS 26 adoption seems to be operating at lower than one-quarter of the speed achieved by latest predecessors throughout the identical post-release window. StatCounter derives its estimates from internet visitors analytics, monitoring working system variations by way of web page impressions throughout its world community of collaborating web sites.
Within the first week of January final 12 months, 89.3% of MacRumors guests used a model of iOS 18. This 12 months, throughout the identical time interval, solely 25.7% of MacRumors readers are operating a model of iOS 26. Within the absence of official numbers from Apple, the true adoption price stays unknown, however the knowledge suggests a degree of hesitation towards iOS 26 that has not been seen in recent times.
In contrast to many earlier releases, iOS 26 introduces Liquid Glass as a basic visible overhaul, changing massive parts of the standard opaque interface with translucent layers, blurred backgrounds, and dynamic depth results throughout system parts. Upon its announcement at WWDC final 12 months, the redesign obtained combined critiques, which might be a contributing issue to hesitation round upgrading.
Likewise, Apple now continues to help older working techniques with safety updates, permitting customers to stay on iOS 18 with out fast stress to replace or forfeit important patches. This makes it a lot simpler for customers to stay on older software program.
