iOS 7 will be “virtually dead” by end of Q2

iOS 8 adoption has been ticking up at a rate that could ensure Apple's previous operating system is "virtually dead" by the end of Q2 2015, it has been claimed.

Suhail Doshi, co-founder and CEO of mobile analytics company MixPanel, told Forbes that iOS 7 would soon be effectively wiped out by the move to iOS 8, saying: "It's 10 per cent. [At that low level] developers will stop making new versions of their apps that have iOS 7 compatibility. If that happens, users are required to update either way."

Currently, 80.21 per cent of Apple devices are running on iOS 8 or higher, but adoption has still been slower than that between iOS 6 and iOS 7.

"iOS 7 adoption was much faster because it didn't have to deal with users not having enough space on their phones," Doshi added. "Also, iOS 7 was the time of huge iOS design changes that people weren't sure whether they'd work or not."

The popularity of iOS 8 among Apple users contrasts with the slow adoption for Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is only running on 7.8 per cent of Android handsets. Users have been more reluctant to switch, with 53.8 per cent still using Android 4.4.

Earlier this month, it was reported that adoption had slowed, hitting 77 per cent at the same point in its run as iOS 7 had reached 80 per cent before it.

The release of the Apple Watch could help to close the gap completely, it has been predicted, leading to what Doshi predicts as iOS 7 becoming "virtually dead" in the coming months.