We’re now five months into 2017, and Apple’s new iOS 11 platform is about one month away from being released as a beta. iOS 10, Apple’s most recent public software release, is currently installed on about 80% of active iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices. iPhone users, can you even imagine what life would be like if the majority of those active iOS devices were running iOS 8 from all the way back in 2014?
Well guess what: that’s exactly what life is like for Android users. Android 7.0 Nougat was first released nearly a year ago and Android O, the next major Android release, has been available as a beta for more than a month now. Meanwhile, the most widely used version of Android as of yesterday is Android Lollipop, which was released to the public on November 12th, 2014. Ugh.
The recent launches of the LG G6, Samsung Galaxy S8, and Samsung Galaxy S8+ helped move the needle over the past couple of weeks, but the numbers are still quite sad.
As of May 2nd, Android Nougat was installed on 7.1% of active Android devices, according to Google’s own data. Nougat, we’re sure you’ll recall, was first released in August 2016, about one month before iOS 10 was released to the public. iOS 10, on the other hand, was installed on 79% of active iOS devices as of February, and its share has no doubt grown over the past two months.
iPhone users, can you imagine if 92.9% of you didn’t have access to any of the new features Apple introduced in iOS 9 or iOS 10? Can you imagine living like that?
We’ve been over it time and time again, and we all know exactly why the Android ecosystem exists as it does. But the issue of Android fragmentation is no less problematic today than it was when it first presented itself. The big difference is that now, the only way around it is to purchase a pricey flagship Pixel phone directly from Google, since affordable Nexus phones are no more. Meanwhile, a factory unlocked iPhone SE can be had for as little as $278 right now on Amazon, and it’ll run the latest and greatest iOS software Apple offers.
Remember when Apple was the company everyone whined about for only selling premium, overpriced phones?
