iPhone loyalty rates down to 8-year low, survey claims

AppleInsider

The loyalty of iPhone owners in the upgrade cycle outside of Apple's iPhone upgrade program has reportedly fallen to its lowest levels since 2011, benefiting Samsung, new survey data suggests.

Of 38,000 people who've traded in iPhones since October 2018, 73% have migrated to a later model, according to a BankMyCell report cited by CNET. Apple's peak loyalty was 92%, achieved in 2017. Retention is in fact down 15.2% this year versus March 2018, and 26% of people trading in an iPhone X switched to another vendor.

Conversely, only 7.7% of Samsung Galaxy S9 owners picked up an iPhone -- and 18% of the iPhone owners who left the platform chose a Samsung device.

BankMyCell is just one trade-in service of many however. Its data also conflicts with CIRP research issued in January, which pointed to loyalty rates of 91% for iPhones and 92% for Android devices.

It also doesn't consider the impact of Apple's own Annual iPhone upgrade program. Apple's program provides a device that can be upgraded every year, payments at effectively no interest, and free AppleCare+.

People are often deterred from switching phone platforms by data migration burdens, as well as losing access to hardware integration and paid apps. Homeowners using HomeKit accessories, for example, may find it difficult or expensive to switch to standards like Alexa or Google Home.

jdw

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

soli

There's really nothing surprising about this. The plateauing of smartphones design is upon us and with vendors following Apple's lead (which may or may not be from stolen IP) there are more than enough similarities. People that care about protecting their data probably won't jump to Android-based devices and those that are fine with built-in crapware (at best) and spyware (at worse) will likely never see a reason to use an iPhone. To each their own.

mattinoz

No measure of how many aren't trading in because they hold on to hardware either for their own use or to hand down to another family member. 

seanismorris

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

I don’t think the notch is that big a deal, but price is.  

Also, IPhone have been better at security but Cellebrite can crack both iPhones and Android. (Bad guys can buy them on eBay)

Apple has the better App Store, but the gap has narrowed.

I think people look at what’s available and conclude Android is the better value.  Personally, I don’t use Apple services to a great extent so migrating isn’t that big a deal.  I’m fine with my 6s until it dies and don’t see a reason to buy ultra premium.

I, like most people, will look at what givens the most bang for the buck.  Apple is pushing things like AR and the camera, which aren’t that important.  Security, build quality are things I care about...

jume

Its logical.. you get the same phone for 1/2 price today.

kevin kee

jume said:

Its logical.. you get the same phone for 1/2 price today.

Where could I get iPhone for 1/2 price? Please let me know...

bb-15

seanismorris said:

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

I don’t think the notch is that big a deal, but price is.  

Also, IPhone have been better at security but Cellebrite can crack both iPhones and Android. (Bad guys can buy them on eBay)

Apple has the better App Store, but the gap has narrowed.

I think people look at what’s available and conclude Android is the better value.  Personally, I don’t use Apple services to a great extent so migrating isn’t that big a deal.  I’m fine with my 6s until it dies and don’t see a reason to buy ultra premium.

I, like most people, will look at what givens the most bang for the buck.  Apple is pushing things like AR and the camera, which aren’t that important.  Security, build quality are things I care about...

Agree & I’d add that many people don’t care about the privacy of there personal information anymore.
20 years ago, the idea of letting a company look at all your mail, calendar appointments, trips using a map to target you for junk ads would be considered nuts. 
But today millions are fine if Google or Amazon do it.
Millions are even fine with a company using a microphone/speaker listening in on personal conversations throughout their house! Again for targeted ads. 

* One of Apple’s big features is privacy. But their hardware cost has to pay for that.
- A lot of people say; ‘screw privacy! I can get this Android phone $300 cheaper.’ ‘I can get these $50 speakers to put all over my house which answer my questions & allow me to buy things from Amazon.’
- When features are “good enough” for the average user, price is the deciding factor.  

jfc_pa

“BankMyCell is just one trade-in service of many however. Its data also conflicts with CIRP research issued in January, which pointed to loyalty rates of 91% for iPhones and 92% for Android devices.”


Perhaps buried the lede a bit?

omalansky

My housekeeper, who has a Samsung phone, occasionally asks me to help her do something on her phone. What a mess! I'd end up shooting myself if I had to switch to the Android operating system!

kuyangkoh

i dont care about survey.....it all depends, I don’t care about the price, I’m  the kind of always wanted the latest one and hand down the old one to the wife and kids. My friend have mcbook and ipad but always have android phone. My son is the only android in the family of 5 because he always wanted to tinker w his phone being an engineer. 

bushman4

While the iOS of the iPhone is important the hardware is equally important
whether it’s a two screen iPhone or a foldable iPhone or a curved iPhone many customers are hoping for something new
While services and a gaming Arcade are a nice add on they are not the reason to own an iPhone 

macplusplus

Word salad.

26% of people who traded in iPhone X: what is the percentage of all who traded in iPhone X within that 38.000 people? If that percentage is 0.1% that makes 38 people. 26% of 38 makes 9.88 people !

If that 26% is the remainder of 100% after substracting that 73%, then that means all who traded in pre-X models (73%) switched to a higher iPhone, and all remaining people who are X owners (whose ratio is 26%) switched unanimously to other vendors ! None has switched to XS (research since October 2018), all X owners switched to other vendors without exception ! How so?

Such an exact pattern (73% upgrade to higher iPhone, 26% upgrade to other vendors) can only occur in a campaign. Such as: “upgrade your old iPhone to a newer iPhone, upgrade your X to other vendors”. 26% of 38.000 = 9880 is not a big number, even 38.000 is not a big number, those are just rounding errors compared to the installed iPhone base. Any local wholesaler can perform or sponsor such a campaign.

edited July 2019

kidgloves

A lot of people, unfortunately, judge and buy on specs. Most Android phones offer more pixels, more RAM etc... which people think makes them better/faster. Most reviews say the Android phones are blisteringly fast and rarely mention how the latest iPhones blow them out the water, merely mentioning that the iPhones are fast too.
Reviews almost never talk of security or privacy which I find really strange and disappointing as people should be much more aware of this.. Or the state of the various Android app stores compared to Apple's. 
Of course, Apple doesn't help itself by being so much more expensive. I think it's now verging on greed, to be honest. When you can see what the likes of Samsung can pack into a phone and charge so much less for it I think Apple is making a bit of a rod for its own back by charging so aggressively. And you can't say Samsung phones are junk, they're absolutely fine quality-wise and last a good few years now.
Most folk just don't know or care about the finer details. Most Android phones are good enough. All Android phones are a good bit cheaper and most folk will never know or care about what they're missing or risking.

bigtds

omalansky said:

My housekeeper, who has a Samsung phone, occasionally asks me to help her do something on her phone. What a mess! I'd end up shooting myself if I had to switch to the Android operating system!

Don't pretend this dosen't happen with iOS also.

jedwards87

Wow. It is like almost every single person who commented missed this "Its data also conflicts with CIRP research issued in January, which pointed to loyalty rates of 91% for iPhones and 92% for Android devices."

mplsp

bigtds said:

omalansky said:

My housekeeper, who has a Samsung phone, occasionally asks me to help her do something on her phone. What a mess! I'd end up shooting myself if I had to switch to the Android operating system!

Don't pretend this dosen't happen with iOS also.

True - One of the big advantages of iOS when it came out was it was infinitely easer to use than anything else out there. It has gotten worse somewhat over the years, mostly out of necessity since it’s impossible to add features without increasing the complexity to some extent. Many of us have been with iOS all along and have incrementally gotten used to these changes so we tend not to notice them. Regardless, android came along, copied many of the design elements of iOS and added some of its own. I suspect that with either OS the experience is much different after you are past the learning curve. I have virtually no experience with Android, so I really can’t comment on it.seanismorris said:

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

I don’t think the notch is that big a deal, but price is.  

Also, IPhone have been better at security but Cellebrite can crack both iPhones and Android. (Bad guys can buy them on eBay)

Apple has the better App Store, but the gap has narrowed.

I think people look at what’s available and conclude Android is the better value.  Personally, I don’t use Apple services to a great extent so migrating isn’t that big a deal.  I’m fine with my 6s until it dies and don’t see a reason to buy ultra premium.

I, like most people, will look at what givens the most bang for the buck.  Apple is pushing things like AR and the camera, which aren’t that important.  Security, build quality are things I care about...

As a pragmatist, I view people complaining about the ‘ugly notch’ to be the equivalent of 15 year olds who are more worried about which brands their friends will see them in than whether they are comfortable. Beyond that and as I’ve said many times before, the notch is the perfect solution and optimization of space. Would people rather have a forehead?

As others have mentioned, the smartphone market is reaching maturity, so the difference in features and quality is narrowing. We’ve seen this in the last several generations; most people don’t buy their phones to play AR games, they buy them to take pictures, use Snapchat, Fakebook and play the latest candy crush. The camera matters more than the graphics do, When you look at the comparisons done last fall after the latest generation of phones came out, people may have proclaimed one brand the ‘winner,’ but there was precious little difference between them. The population here on AI is not representative of the population in general, and if you’re not married to iOS, $1000+ gets to be pretty hard to swallow when you can get a very decent phone for $3-400 cheaper.

macplusplus

MplsP said:

bigtds said:

omalansky said:

My housekeeper, who has a Samsung phone, occasionally asks me to help her do something on her phone. What a mess! I'd end up shooting myself if I had to switch to the Android operating system!

Don't pretend this dosen't happen with iOS also.

True - One of the big advantages of iOS when it came out was it was infinitely easer to use than anything else out there. It has gotten worse somewhat over the years, mostly out of necessity since it’s impossible to add features without increasing the complexity to some extent. Many of us have been with iOS all along and have incrementally gotten used to these changes so we tend not to notice them. Regardless, android came along, copied many of the design elements of iOS and added some of its own. I suspect that with either OS the experience is much different after you are past the learning curve. I have virtually no experience with Android, so I really can’t comment on it.seanismorris said:

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

I don’t think the notch is that big a deal, but price is.  

Also, IPhone have been better at security but Cellebrite can crack both iPhones and Android. (Bad guys can buy them on eBay)

Apple has the better App Store, but the gap has narrowed.

I think people look at what’s available and conclude Android is the better value.  Personally, I don’t use Apple services to a great extent so migrating isn’t that big a deal.  I’m fine with my 6s until it dies and don’t see a reason to buy ultra premium.

I, like most people, will look at what givens the most bang for the buck.  Apple is pushing things like AR and the camera, which aren’t that important.  Security, build quality are things I care about...

As a pragmatist, I view people complaining about the ‘ugly notch’ to be the equivalent of 15 year olds who are more worried about which brands their friends will see them in than whether they are comfortable. Beyond that and as I’ve said many times before, the notch is the perfect solution and optimization of space. Would people rather have a forehead?

As others have mentioned, the smartphone market is reaching maturity, so the difference in features and quality is narrowing. We’ve seen this in the last several generations; most people don’t buy their phones to play AR games, they buy them to take pictures, use Snapchat, Fakebook and play the latest candy crush. The camera matters more than the graphics do, When you look at the comparisons done last fall after the latest generation of phones came out, people may have proclaimed one brand the ‘winner,’ but there was precious little difference between them. The population here on AI is not representative of the population in general, and if you’re not married to iOS, $1000+ gets to be pretty hard to swallow when you can get a very decent phone for $3-400 cheaper.

$1000+ is a bait and Apple is aware it is hard to swallow as a price. Apple’s big gun is the XR, not XS. The XS is just to hold the competitors at the gunpoint. Samsung has swallowed that $1000+ bait and priced $2500 its folding crap to fail spectacularly. Competitors mainly target Apple’s <$1000 user base up to XR. Apple is certainly aware of that too and we may see some interesting arrangements with the 2019 release. I will stick with my 8+ at least two years more.

edited July 2019

elijahg

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

The notch doesn't concern me personally, but the price does. I'll always (within reason) be loyal to Apple, but more and more people are looking at Apple's £1000 phones and thinking "nah, you know what, I'm going to switch to Android," where they get 75% of the features for 25% of the price. Some of the Chinese Android phones really are surprisingly good, even at the £250 price bracket. My friend's £250 Xiaomi has incredible low-light camera performance. Makes the Xs look like something from 5 years ago.

Current iPhone toting friends are either holding off on a 5s sized device, or as I am, cheaper phones. The flagship 6s was £650 which was pretty good bang for your buck. It was way better than any other phone then. The flagship Xs is now £1000, but hardware wise is it really that much better than the competition? Is it really that much better than the 6s? Software is of course much better than Android, but that was already factored into the £650 iPhone's cost. The Xs is certainly not £350 better than my 6s was at the time.

gatorguy

Bank My Cell has a number of white papers and surveys available, including the source paper for this article. If you have time it's worth glancing at, assuming you have any interest in us v. them, or general smartphone trends, or children and smartphone addiction, or how depreciation might impact your cellphone when it comes time to move on. All those topics are covered. 

https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/

edited July 2019

brianloftus

Comscore is showing the highest ownership of iPhone ever. Impossible to reconcile with this article. https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings