Insights | Mobile

iPhone and Android OS Breakdown – September

17 September 2010 By

iOS Version Update: iOS 4 Now Powering 68% of iPhones

Released on June 21st, iOS 4 is the newest operating system for the iPhone.  In July, one month after its release, it was already powering 50% of all iPhones.  Now, based on traffic data from online ad network Chitika, it accounts for 68% of the iPhone market.

Since July 22nd, the previous incarnation, iOS 3, has dropped from 48% of the market to just 31%.  Even older operating systems – iPhone OS 1 and 2 – have dropped to a combined 0.7%.

iOS Distribution September

Numbers:

OS Build % July % Sept Change
1.x 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
2.x 0.96% 0.72% -0.23%
3.x 48.05% 31.28% -16.76%
4.x 50.52% 67.55% 17.03%

For comparison’s sake, here’s how the Android OS distribution looks so far in September:

Android OS Breakdown - September

Contact

Daniel Ruby
Research Director, Online Insights
Chitika, Inc.
+866.441.7203 x966
press@chitika.com

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  • Martin

    Very interesting post – I hope you have another update on this coming up soon! Seriously contemplating breaking backward compatibility with iOS 3 for my app to ease development (funny how workarounds tend to become bugs themselves when the original bugs are fixed). Cutting myself off from a third of the market is not acceptable though, so I’m hoping the trend continues, and iOS 4+ adoption keeps growing.

  • Chahk

    Just make sure to remember the top chart next time Steve Jobs tries to bullsh*t about Android’s fragmentation “issues”.

  • Playsted

    Is there a reason why you are grouping iOS versions together while you aren’t for Android? iOS 4.x but then Android 2.1 and 2.2, not 2.x.

    I understand 2.1 and 2.2 are significantly different but still there is iOS 4.02, 4.1, 4.2 and it doesn’t seem fair to group them.

  • Merlin

    The difference between 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 is (from the developer’s perspective) minimal. There is a vast difference between 4.X and 3.X though (maps api, video playback to name some changes), so it makes sense to group these together.

    It’s not about version numbers, it’s about api modifications :) If there was an OS that had a new version every week, but each version would have only minute changes, invisible to developers, you wouldn’t call the market fragmented, right? :)

  • Blain

    Another difference is which 3.x. The latest that the first gen iPhones and iPod touches can have are 3.1.3, and they’re stuck at that. However, up until November, the iPads had only one OS: 3.2. And there are major differences between 3.1 and 3.2 where 3.2 is closer to 4.0 in that way.

  • What percentage of iOS users are still on 3.x? – Quora

    [...] Gardner, Head of Innovation for Volume, a digi… Chitika research puts it at 31% (Source: http://chitika.com/research/2010...), but hopefully someone can provide some updated information, as this is from September 2010. [...]