Apple brand loyalty among smartphone owners has hit an all-time high, according to a survey by SellCell. This shows that 91.9% of iPhone owners plan to buy another iPhone with the next upgrade, 1.4% more than in 2019.
Samsung, on the other hand, has seen its own brand loyalty decline …
SellCell says only 74% of Samsung smartphone owners plan to buy another Samsung model, up from 85.7% in 2019.
iPhone owners gave four reasons to stay with Apple:
- Like the iPhone, or never had a problem with it: 65%
- Trapped in the ecosystem: 21%
- Switching from iOS to Android is too much hassle: 10%
- Prefer to stick to what they know: 8%
The ecosystem is clearly a big advantage for Apple. While nearly as many Samsung owners were satisfied with the brand as Apple owners (64% vs.65%), only 5% said they had invested too much in Samsung’s world.
iPhone owners planning to switch to Android cited three main reasons:
- Other brand has better technology (eg Screen, camera, battery, etc.): 38%
- Prefer another brand’s design: 26.4%
- Latest model from the other brand has more features than the latest model from my current brand: 12.9%
Almost half would switch to Samsung and a third to a Google Pixel.
Conversely, the majority of Samsung owners would switch to the iPhone, with nearly a third saying Apple offers better privacy protections, and a quarter saying they believe Apple offers better value for money.
SellCell also asked respondents to choose their favorite smartphone, with the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Max at the top of the list.
- Apple iPhone 12 – 17%
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max – 12.7%
- Samsung Galaxy S21 – 11.4%
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro – 10.6%
- Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra – 10%
- Samsung Galaxy S21 + – 9%
- Google Pixel 5 – 8.1%
- Apple iPhone 12 Mini – 6.3%
- Other – 5%
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G – 3.1%
The sample consists of 5,000 US smartphone owners – 2,000 iPhone and Samsung each, and the rest is roughly in line with the market share split between other brands.
Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash
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