Nearly 300 Million Devices Running iOS 6, 60% of All iOS Devices Ever

In its iOS 6.1 press release today, Apple disclosed some impressive usage numbers for iOS 6 and the iOS platform. As of today, nearly 300 million iOS devices -- iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch -- are running iOS 6, with nine billion photos uploaded to Photo Stream, 450 billion iMessages sent and over four trillion notifications received.

iphone ipad ipad mini update
Of these, perhaps the most impressive is that 300 million devices are currently running iOS 6. That is, as EdibleApple points out, roughly 60 percent of all iOS devices ever sold:

During Apple’s most recent earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple to date has sold over 500 million iOS devices. If we put those pieces together we see that over half of every iOS device ever sold is now running the most recent version of Apple’s mobile operating system. Contrast that of course to Android where a scant minority of users are ever caught running the most recent iteration of Android.

The Next Web notes that Apple sold some 75 million iOS devices in the December quarter alone, all of which are running iOS 6, plus 100 million upgrades to iOS 6 in its first week of availability back in September.

Apple has clearly been successful in keeping devices upgraded to the latest version of iOS, particularly through the over-the-air update feature that was introduced last year in iOS 5. This keeps iOS devices secure, and keeps users up to date with the latest new features to come out of Cupertino.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 27, 2024 5:05 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in early December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp to Drop Support for These iPhones Starting May 2025

Monday December 2, 2024 2:57 am PST by
WhatsApp is set to end support for iOS versions older than iOS 15.1 from May next year, removing the chat platform's compatibility with several iPhone models in the process. From May 5, 2025, WhatsApp will no longer be compatible with iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus models. Users with those devices won't be able to access the encrypted chat service after the specified date unless they ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

12 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Friday November 29, 2024 5:17 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
Apple AI Command Center Concept Mock 3

Apple Expected to Launch This All-New Device Next Year

Wednesday November 27, 2024 1:05 pm PST by
Apple is expected to kick off 2025 by launching an all-new smart home hub, also referred to as a "command center," as early as March. The hub is expected to feature around a six-inch display that can be attached to a tabletop base with a speaker, or mounted on a wall. The device is said to run a new "homeOS" operating system with a customizable widget-focused home screen, and it is expected...
Cyber Monday Deals Feature 2022

Apple Cyber Week Deals Available Now: AirPods, iPads, and More

Sunday December 1, 2024 7:52 am PST by
Although Black Friday has ended, Cyber Week is here and you can find great deals on numerous Apple devices right now. This includes big savings on AirPods, Apple Watch, MacBook Air, iPad, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Specifically,...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Expected Next Year: Here's What We Know

Thursday November 28, 2024 3:30 am PST by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Rectangle Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Already Rumored to Have These 8 New Features

Wednesday November 27, 2024 12:19 pm PST by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch for 10 more months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. An imaginative iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models so far: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro ...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 17 Designs Revealed!

Friday November 29, 2024 9:34 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the recently leaked design of the iPhone 17 "Air" and iPhone 17 Pro. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Earlier this week, a report from The Information's Wayne Ma revealed that the iPhone 17 Air will have a thickness of between 5mm and 6mm, which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever. In comparison, iPhone ...

Top Rated Comments

phillipduran Avatar
155 months ago
Contrast that of course to Android where a scant minority of users are ever caught running the most recent iteration of Android.

They probably just cant find the right download link, for the right provider, for the right version of phone they are using and after they confirmed that the version in question is approved by the various providers of cell service.

Man, I love this Open OS stuff! :D
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hello12 Avatar
155 months ago
IOs 6 is already the best OS for a phone. But iOS 7 needs to be revolutionary (by that I mean introduce a lot of the features users are dying to have). I hope they listen.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
155 months ago
If only it was ''all'' the latest features...

Well there seems to be about 299,999,000 people that don't come on macrumors and complain about it.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
agaytime Avatar
155 months ago
:eek:

And people say Android is fragmented!?!

Android is fragmented. :apple:
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
slffl Avatar
155 months ago
What do you mean? I have a Samsung Galaxy S, released at the same time as the iPhone 4, that runs Android 2.2 which is the latest version of Android right? Right? Because that's all it supports and it never says it has any updates.

----------

Clean up the GUI, better keyboard (i.e. Swype), Haptic feedback for starters.

I could go on.

OMG are you kidding me? GUI is way better than androids. So is keyboard. Apparently you dont know how the iPhone keyboard works in the background. Haptic feedback is useless.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Casiotone Avatar
155 months ago
What counts, is that Apple can use these ambiguous numbers to put in a chart to brag about in their press conferences. And what about the developers of Apple products? They used to have to make only one app for the iPhone, now you have the 4/4S resolution, 5 resolution, iPad Mini/iPad 2 resolution and iPad 4 resolution. Plus like I said, not all products have the same features, yet it's all gathered under the same name. That's also fragmentation, but Apple doesn't seem to admit it.
Why would anyone care about these numbers if not in the context of app development?

Obviously Apple brags about them to show that iOS is (still) a huge market for developers. The fact that the 3GS/4 can't do panoramas or Siri doesn't change anything about that. (If anything, it means more sales for panorama apps).

I like how you tried to make the screen issue bigger than it is. There's really only 3 screens form factors to target on iOS, as retina versions run on non-retina displays without any additional work.

1 - 960x640 (works on 480x320 displays without modification)
2 - 1136x640 (doesn't take really much more work than 960x640 as it can use the same icons/assets)
3 - 2048x1536 (works on 1024x768 displays without modification)

Having 3 different screen formats to target is nothing compared to dealing with APIs from multiple OS versions. Do you know anything about mobile development? OS updates are more than user-end features.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)