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Android Beats iOS In Smartphone Loyalty, Study Finds
Android users don't appear to be switching to the iPhone like they used to. According to a new study from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), Android users have higher loyalty than iOS users do. "The research firm found that Android brand loyalty has been remaining steadily high since early 2016, and remains at the highest levels ever seen," reports TechCrunch. From the report: Today, Android has a 91 percent loyalty rate, compared with 86 percent for iOS, measured as the percentage of U.S. customers who stayed with their operating system when they upgraded their phone in 2017. From January 2016 through December 2017, Android loyalty ranged from 89 to 91 percent (ending at 91 percent), while iOS loyalty was several percentage points lower, ranging from 85 to 88 percent. Explains Mike Levin, partner and co-founder of CIRP, users have pretty much settled on their brand of choice at this point. "With only two mobile operating systems at this point, it appears users now pick one, learn it, invest in apps and storage, and stick with it. Now, Apple and Google need to figure out how to sell products and services to these loyal customer bases," he said. It's worth noting that Android hasn't always led in user loyalty as it does now. CIRP has been tracking these metrics for years, and things used to be the other way around.
Android is pretty rock solid for me these days and has a ton of great apps. My wife also recently jumped to android just because she was bored of her iphone and seems to have learned it quick and doesn't seem to want to go back.
The Google stuff is poor mans Apple. As in "just like Apple, but dirt cheap". Many Geeks I know here in Germany have moved to Chrome OS and everything in the cloud. Google doesn't sell hardware, they lure you into their AI and sell that data. This is a business model MS and Apple will have a hard time beating in the long term.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
This study is problematic in that it is comparing two very unlike things. Android is simply an operating system that is designed to work on a variety of different smart phone hardware designs whereas the iPhone has one singular user interface on one type of hardware. Android folks aren't necessarily wed to one smart phone maker or another. When it's time for me to replace my Android, I simply look for the best bang for my dollar. Consequently, I don't often replace my phone with the same manufacturer. A better comparison would be brand loyalty. Look at the people who might be loyal to a flagship Android brand like Samsung or LG and compare that to Apple.
My anecdotal evidence?
Since the Android landscape is so broken and fragmented, and since even Google is dropping support for the Nexus devices, you are left with a few choices:
1) Buy into a proprietary version of Android and stick with that (because it will have its own store, wallet, and other branded crap)
2) Say fuck it and go back to Apple
Honestly, I'm pretty much at 2) on this as I've now had a couple of Nexus devices be abandoned, and I have no interest in an OEM flavor of Android. I don't want yet another digital assistant, analytics, and all of that other shit. In fact, the presence of this is actively preventing me from signing up, because it's no different then all of the shitware on laptops but there by whatever clowns made it.
Despite claims to the contrary, Android isn't doing much to ensure I don't have a fragmented and proprietary experience.
And quite frankly, if I'm going to have a proprietary experience, I'm going back to the one which I've enjoyed the best ... and that's Apple.
As long as there's 50 different flavors of Android, with each company injecting their own shit and then abandoning the device for updates as soon as you've bought it, I see no point in sticking with Android.
I have no interest in a yet another flavor of Android which exists to monetize my life. I'm not signing up for that.
I converted my whole family to the Moto X family. V4 seems to have been "good enough" - my kids finally stopped whining about the iphones I was never going to buy them - and I'm happy with my v5.
Android users don't appear to be switching to the iPhone like they used to.
No Android user I know EVER switched to iOS. Why would you ?
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
I mean, it seems rather obvious that the Android percentage would be higher, but it does not mean a higher "loyalty", but exactly the opposite.
Specifically, from what I can find, about 86% of phones sold are Android - apart from lower priced devices, there is also a huge selection, compared to the iOS devices being just 3 models, so it would make sense that more Android devices would be sold even if iOS was a better OS overall (it is in many ways, it is not in several others).
So, they say that there is a 91% chance for an android user to stick with Android - so a bit higher than the overall Android market share which is expected from a user who has a bias towards the device they are used to.
However, even though iOS devices have just a 13% market share, an iOS owner has a rather staggering 86% chance of buying another iOS device. That sure is some serious brand loyalty and it is what we've come to expect from Apple users.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
Most low end Android users can't afford iPhone, so the loyalty is 100%. This can skew the results completely in Android favor.
Actually this makes pretty good sense, if you choose an Android phone, there's a larger selection of hardware and the APPs that you purchase or use end up staying with you. Phone or Tablet selection is great in that you can get something dirt cheap up to fairly expensive and powerful. With IOs you're suddenly stuck with much fewer hardware choices, generally very expensive.
Smartphones are only *truly* loyal to the platform vendor.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
You can hide an Android up your bung hole. Try that with an X. Ouch! F.B.I. can spot someone with an X up there with nary a F.I.S.A. warrant at hand.
The other day a friend told me of going to a meeting and seeing a guy who had an Apple logo tattooed to his upper arm. We had a good laugh. Now that there is loyalty - perhaps cultish loyalty. So I was going to comment that Apple users are obviously more loyal using this anecdote, but then I did quick image search and sure enough - there are idiots out there with Android logo tattoos. :(
Apple was brave enough to remove the beloved headphone jack. Now they can show us how brave they are when their customers start leaving them for more reasonable and less brave competition.
I'm curious how this would change if app authors gave you a license to both the Android and iOS version of their app when you bought it. I imagine a lot of the loyalty is actually to the person's library of apps, not the OS itself.
So, they are basing that headline on FIVE whole percentage points?
What was the margin of error in the Survey? Most I've seen are +/- at least 2 or 3 points.
Sorry, completely unconvinced; plus we're talking an aggregate of dozens of Android brands at all imaginable price points, vs. ONE brand of fairly premium-priced phones.
I'd say that, if you tightened that study up a bit, you'd find quite a bit MORE "brand loyalty" on the Apple side.
But that wasn't what the "researchers" were LOOKING FOR, was it?
If you have three populations: Apple loyalists, Android loyalists, and people who are willing to move from platform to platform, it would make sense that a period where more people moved from Android to iOS might be followed by the reverse. That assumes that most people don't want to deal with swapping out their software and either OS is good enough, but I think there's a case for that.
I don't need a study to say with extreme confidence that people that already drive cheep cars are more likely to buy another cheep car rather than a Lamborghini or Ferrari.
If I use an Apple product I am on iOS. If I choose an android environment I can switch between many different device manufacturers. Doesn't seem like a fair comparison.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
It's easy to have brand loyalty when you're the only one who sells smartphones in the $100 range (excepting Microsoft, but they haven't had the necessary market success).
From my experience, Android is good enough for most tasks. I used a $100 Chinese Android 5.0 phone in place of an iPhone 4S and noted that it had fewer problems than the iPhone (browser and other apps crashed less often).
Once Android Go rolls out, even $50 phones should provide a decent experience.
The choice is very anus like you poof
if they got rid of the whole I-Tunes is mandatory to do ANYTHING on the damn phone requirement.
Oh, and while you're at it, I want another phone the size of the Iphone 4 again. Those fit in the pockets rather well. :|
These damn things get any bigger, they're gonna come with attachments you can use to carry it around on your arm like a shield.
Mac fans show their people skills once again.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Well, 12.5%, counting everyone (probably shouldn't do that either, so at least somewhat nearer 14%.)
But only if you assume that no one has ever bought more than one iPhone.
Do you think that's a valid assumption?
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I bought an iPad. Apple repeatedly broke it until I became unwilling even bother with it. That taught me I definitely didn't want an iPhone.
Watching my SO fight with hers merely confirmed my decision. Her next phone will be an Android-based model, because she's watched mine consistently work with very few problems, and no significant problems at all.
Bottom line, Android works well enough, and yes, just pre-ordered a new one (S9+.) It still has a headphone jack. And a memory card. And no "notch." I appreciate the cowardice it takes not to screw the customer in the name of absurd rationalizations.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
The baby boomers are almost completely gone, soon Apple will be out of business.
macs are another things. Macs are the best dev platforms ever, runs xcode and android studio.
"inhabitants" is not synonymous with "size of the market."
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
the sole reason being PRICE.
Again >$500 = Apple
(Less Than) $500 = You know what.