Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac.com says that Apple brand loyalty among smartphone owners has hit an all-time high, according to a survey by SellCell. It shows that 91.9% of iPhone owners plan to buy another iPhone when they next upgrade, up 1.4% from 2019.
Samsung, in contrast, has seen its own brand loyalty plunge. Lovejoy reports that SellCell says that only 74% of Samsung smartphone owners plan to buy another Samsung model, down from 85.7% in 2019.
iPhone owners gave four reasons for sticking with Apple:
- Like iPhone best or never had an issue with it: 65%
- Locked into the ecosystem: 21%
- Switching from iOS to Android is too much hassle: 10%
- Prefer to stick to what they know: 8%
Lovejoy says the ecosystem is clearly a big advantage for Apple. While almost as many Samsung owners were happy with the brand as Apple owners (64% versus 65%), just 5% said they were too invested in the Samsung world.
iPhone owners who plan to switch to Android gave three main reasons:
- Other brand has better technology (e.g., screen, camera, battery, etc.): 38%
- Prefer the design of other brand: 26.4%
- Latest model from the other brand has more features than the latest model of 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 iPhone, almost a third of them saying that Apple offers better privacy protection, and a quarter saying they consider Apple offers better value for money.
SellCell also asked respondents to pick their favorite smartphone, with the iPhone 12 and and 12 Pro Max heading 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 survey sample is 5,000 US smartphone owners – 2,000 each of iPhone and Samsung, and the rest split across other brands roughly in line with market share.