Apple loses $20 bn in market valuation on iOS 8.1 update failure

Apple Inc lost a whopping $20 billion as its latest iOS 8.1 update failed to impress users and a flood of angry iPhone 6 owners complained that the software was blocking calls and preventing the fingerprint identification feature.

The iOS 8.1 update was rolled out by Apple on Wednesday and was designed to fix a bug in the Healthkit software which was causing some fitness apps to be pulled from the App Store. However, people who downloaded it found that it caused more problems than it fixed.

Apple pulled back the update a few hours later, and apologised to users 'for the great inconvenience experienced', and guided users on how to downgrade back to the former version.

Despite the apology, shares in Apple took a plunge, wiping more than $20 billion of the company's market capitalisation. Since trading opened in New York on Friday, the share price has dipped by as much as 3.5 per cent.