A blog post courtesy of deltaDNA has shone a spotlight on how iOS 9 adoption varies between players who make in-app purchases in F2P games and those that don’t.

Interestingly, the uptake of iOS 9 has been slightly more enthusiastic than when iOS 8 was released. In 2014 only 36 percent of Apple users had upgraded to iOS 8 within a week of its release. Fast forward a year, and by 23 September 45 percent of iOS 8 users had made the leap to iOS 9.

Still, it’s a low figure considering that less than half were willing to immediately bite the bullet. Indeed, according to deltaDNA 7 percent of Apple’s customers are still using iOS 7.

Look before you leap

The question of why this is can be answered with data – and it would seem that those willing to part with in-app cash are also more likely to have the latest software.

The graph below shows that non-payer adoption rate is around 5 percent lower than those who make in-app purchases on 24 September.

deltaDNA notes that this may also be because payers are more likely to buy the latest hardware, such as the iPhone 6, which is pre-loaded with the most recent updates. Indeed, 60 percent of paying players own an iPhone 6 compared to just 41 percent of non-payers.

Elsewhere geography had a significant impact on uptake. Europe, North America and South America saw adoption rates of around 50 percent, while Africa and Asia were below 40 percent.

While it’s tempting to blame device generation, around 50 percent of iPhone users in Asia own an iPhone 6 while just 23 percent of South American users can say the same.

“The real cause for this is unclear in our data, but could be due to nervousness about regional app support, the localization of iOS 9 features (e.g. Apple pay only works in US & UK) or internet availability,” said deltaDNA in its report.