iOS8 glitch wipes $20bn off Apple

The technology giant released the first patch for its new operating system on iPhones and iPads on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to fix a series of issues.

However, users who downloaded it complained that they lost phone signal, leaving them unable to make calls. Others said the Touch ID feature, which allows people to unlock their iPhone using their fingerprints, no longer worked.

The bug is believed to have affected both versions of Apple's new iPhone 6, which were released last week in the UK and US and sold more than 10m units over their first weekend , making them the fastest-selling Apple product in history.

Fans camped out overnight around the world, including at London's Covent Garden and Regent Street stores, to be among the first few to get their hands on the new phones, which cost up to £789. Both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are sold with iOS 8 already installed on them.

Apple has been rushing to correct numerous problems with iOS 8, including with its eagerly-awaited health kit, which has seen its release date postponed. iOS 8 crashes 67pc more often than its predecessor, iOS 7, Bloomberg claimed.

^{The issues that iOS 8.0.1 was meant to fix}

Just under half of all Apple devices are already running iOS 8 , despite it only being released on September 17.

According to Apple, 46pc of iOS-enabled devices, including iPhones, iPads and iPods, are running iOS8, while 49pc are running iOS 7 and 5pc continue to run earlier versions.

Adam Satariano, at Bloomberg, said: "The new iOS has about 4,000 new features or so. I think making that work is what developers have struggled with."

The iOS 8.0.1 issue came just hours after it was revealed that the iPhone 6 Plus was being bent while in users' pockets.

One user posted a picture of his friend’s iPhone, which had curved to the shape of his leg. “Put it in his front pocket and it was like this when he took it out after getting out of the car,” he wrote on Apple forum MacRumors.

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