Apple’s warning could not be any clearer as mercenary spyware developers successfully compromise iPhone yet again. Two vulnerabilities were urgently patched ahead of the holidays. But the data three weeks later suggests most iPhones can’t be fixed unless they are upgraded, despite warnings that these spyware attacks will now intensify.

As I reported last month, data suggests 50% of all eligible iPhone users have yet to upgrade from iOS 18 to iOS 26. And that surprisingly slow momentum is now driving more coverage. Yes, it’s disappointing for Apple that so many users are not embracing its latest OS, but more critically, those users have no fix for these new attacks.

“iOS 26 still struggles to gain traction with iPhone users,” Cult Of Mac now says. While PhoneArena reports that “more iPhone users than ever are ignoring the latest iOS update.” 9to5Mac’s coverage is even more blunt: “iOS 26 has been available for nearly four months,” yet the latest data “indicates the iPhone update is lagging significantly behind predecessors in adoption, with most users opting to stay on iOS 18.”

The most pessimistic data comes from StatCounter, which says sub-20% of users have upgraded. TelemetryDeck is more bullish, suggesting 60% of users may have moved. But even that optimistic picture leaves hundreds of millions of iPhones at risk.