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.

Comments

Eh, that's not how I read the statistic.

[Ecuador]

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.