This year we are celebrating 15 years of testing iOS applications. Over the years, we have not only built a huge device library, but we’ve also gained an understanding of the user trends that are key to successfully testing iOS applications on Apple mobile devices.
2024 is an exciting year for iOS apps. It’s predicted that in September 2024, a new iPhone will be released with a new iOS 18 version, in addition to other new releases and improvements to the mobile lineup. In this post we go over the top iOS devices you want to include while testing and insights about iPhone and iOS data.
Apple iPhone & iPad
Apple users are known to run the latest version of iOS on their personal devices. Year after year, the majority of iPhone users tend to upgrade their device version as soon as a new version is released. This helps developers and testers both to limit testing to 1 or 2 OS versions back and also helps testing on similar devices in the same ecosystem. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Android applications.
Based on data released, Apple sold 16% of all smartphones worldwide, which is where their market share was previously in Q2 and Q3 of 2022 before the release of the iPhone 14 skyrocketed their sales at the end of that year. While Apple didn’t see the same boost with the release of iPhone 15, iPhone models continue to be incredibly popular among consumers, as sales for the iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone Pro were still at the top of the charts in the later half of 2023 according to Forbes.com.
The top phones in the first half of 2023 are:
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: 26.5 million
- Apple iPhone Pro: 21 million
- Apple iPhone 14: 16.5 million
- Apple iPhone 13: 15.5 million
- Samsung Galaxy A14: 12.4 million
- Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: 9.6 million
- Samsung Galaxy A14 5G: 9 million
- Samsung Galaxy A54 5G: 8.8 million
- Samsung Galaxy A34 5G: 7.1 million
- Apple iPhone 11: 6.9 million
iOS Adoption
iOS 17 was officially released in September 2023. Between the end of September 2023 after its release, and as of January 1st 2024, iOS 17 now represents 66% of iOS device users versus 23% of users on iOS 16.
Apple users are typically quick adopters when a new version is released, so we can expect a continuous increase of users on iOS 17 in the coming months. What that means for testing is that within a few months, older iPhone and iPad devices won’t represent a significant portion of users, and therefore should generally not be supported as part of a testing plan for iOS apps.
Echoing the initial data above, data measured by devices on the App store also reflects that 76% of iPhone users utilize iOS 17 versus 20% of iOS 16 users.
iPhone 15 Adoption
Based on data released by Mixpanel.com, iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 devices represent approximately 23% of total iOS users globally. What this means is more than 73% of iOS users have a device older than iPhone 14. In terms of testing, this indicates that while iPhone 14 and 15 devices are an important part of any testing plan, older iPhone models should also be included in order to ensure that the broad range of iPhone users have been considered during the testing phase.
Additionally, Statcounter indicates the following statistics for iOS users in the United States:
- iOS 17.1: 35%
- iOS 16.6: 19%
- iOS 17.2: 14%
- iOS 16.7: 5%
- iOS 17: 4.5%
- iOS 16.1: 4.5
- iOS 16.3: 3.5%
iPad
Based on data shared on Developer.Apple.com on February 4th 2024, 61% of all devices introduced in the last four years use iPadOS 17; 29% use iPadOS 16, and 10% use an older version. Much like iPhone users, this indicates that the majority of iPad users are quick to adopt the latest OS version released, and developers and testers should be mindful of this trend when creating apps and drafting testing plans.
iOS 17
What’s New in iOS 17?
Apple released its newest update, iOS 17, in mid-September of 2023 and added a range of new features and fixes to all users of the iPhone XR and above. Some standout features include a brand-new Siri voice recognition model, NameDrop, StandBy, contact posters, Live Voicemail, FaceTime video voicemail, and enhancements to autocorrect and dictation, among others. Many of the improvements and new features offer increased accessibility options–such as the ability to adjust the speed of Siri’s speech–but other features go even further, such as Live Speech typing which allows for a user’s phone to speak typed speech in-person or during calls and FaceTime.
Accessibility in iOS 17
Other updates to accessibility options on the new OS extend to Cognitive Accessibility–Assistive Access allows users the ability to emphasize only the essential information, buttons, and elements in their apps to reduce clutter and customize the iPhone’s appearance to more easily display essential information. For users needing further visual assistance, the magnifier in iOS 17 now can detect text and read it aloud when the camera is pointed towards it, and a new Voice Control tutorial helps users to better understand using their voice to control their iPhone if they have difficulty in using the touchscreen.
Source: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe3fa5df43/16.0/ios/16.0
Based on data shared by Statscounter, Apple iOS represents 61% of users vs 39% on Android OS.
iOS 18
According to superchargednews.com, Apple is planning to release a large round of new updates in iOS 18, making it one of the biggest updates ever released on the iOS platform. With the development of new apps on Apple Vision Pro and the growth of AI, there is a lot to be excited about in terms of new applications and innovation. While it may seem to be far off into the future, it’s never too early to start planning ahead for a major iOS release, as the impact to iOS app development and testing strategies will be felt quickly as users begin to rapidly adopt the newest version.
Conclusion
While the majority of our focus has been on iOS and iPadOS, it’s also important to mention Apple Vision Pro and its impact moving forward–for iOS app developers, it’s a new era. In the release of the Vision Pro, many senior developers want to see a renaissance of the iPhone era that will unlock new possibilities of apps and app development. For QA testing, that likely means utilizing mostly virtual environments for testing apps until Apple releases a new virtual device that is more accessible in terms of pricing for teams of developers and testers.
At PLUS QA, we are ready to test on Apple Vision Pro, and are happy to set up a consultation for all of your testing needs.
