For several years, Apple has enjoyed dominance in the smartphone market. The company continues to be popular because of its loyal customers who would not switch to any other phone. A new report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reveals that 90% of the iPhone customers continue to remain loyal.
Apple is very popular in its home country, the United States, as the company has reportedly captured 43% of the smartphone sales in the past three years. On the other hand, the South Korean giant Samsung captured 31% of the market. However, sales of Samsung devices accounted for (a little) more than half of the Android smartphone sales. LG reportedly captured 9% of the market.
iPhone continues to be highly popular
Brand loyalty helps explain trends in overall shares. Apple has had the highest brand loyalty, measured as the percent of customers purchasing a new Apple iPhone whose previous smartphone was also an iPhone. Apple has seen loyalty rates exceed 90% for the past three years.
Switching brands within the Android operating system is easier than switching between Android and iOS, and loyalty to each operating system has remained at about 90% for the past several years. Even so, within Android smartphones, Samsung has the highest loyalty, with around two-thirds of Samsung buyers having owned another Samsung immediately previously. As Samsung maintained its loyal users, Motorola and LG saw lower loyalty a somewhat downward trend since the year ending September 2019.
In the Android world, loyalty to a smartphone manufacturer is not high. It is easier to switch between different Android smartphones, as they all run the same operating system except for the additional on the top services. The exception is Samsung which continues to have a slightly good loyalty rate. Loyalty to the iPhone is high – most people who buy an iPhone already have an iPhone.
