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Android Beats iOS In Smartphone Loyalty, Study Finds

Posted by BeauHD on from the tide-has-turned dept.

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.

12 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Google services and Android price performance by Qbertino · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Google services and Android price performance by fluffernutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Every Android phone I have bought had a comparable iPhone at the same price. I buy Android phones because once I do, I don't have to use anything Google if I want. When I buy Apple, I know I'm going to have to use iTunes for something eventually. Then I'll be using Apple software and seeing Apple advertising, and that makes me feel locked in.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:Google services and Android price performance by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2, Informative

      Every Android phone I have bought had a comparable iPhone at the same price. I buy Android phones because once I do, I don't have to use anything Google if I want. When I buy Apple, I know I'm going to have to use iTunes for something eventually. Then I'll be using Apple software and seeing Apple advertising, and that makes me feel locked in.

      What Apple advertising?

      Apple doesn't do in-product Advertising in their own products. There are NO pro-Apple ads IN iTunes.

      What a moron.

    3. Re:Google services and Android price performance by PixetaledPikachu · · Score: 2

      I know no "geek" who ever would use a ChromeBook, either.

      Geeks view chromebooks as a great way to buy cheap hardware to sideload linux to.

    4. Re:Google services and Android price performance by jon3k · · Score: 2

      When I buy Apple, I know I'm going to have to use iTunes for something eventually.

      For what it's worth I've been using iPhones for years and I've never installed iTunes. I don't even own a computer that would run it. I updated it over the air and back my photos up using Google Photos.

  2. Problem by DaMattster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Problem by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      iOS has a lot more lock in. Try to switch away and you need to re-buy all your apps, your HomePod is a brick, you need to re-upload all your cloud data, your dongles and peripherals are bricked...

      Switching Android phones doesn't have so much lock in.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Eh, that's not how I read the statistic. by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
  4. Tattoos real test of loyalty by Camel+Pilot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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. :(
     

  5. Curious how this would change by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  6. Reliability of Survey by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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?

  7. Re:Moto X FTW by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    So, you're bragging that your family would rather have an Android phone than NOTHING, right?

    Got it.