Apple, Samsung tied for highest smartphone customer satisfaction, iPhone falls behind Galaxy Note
When it comes to smartphones, Apple and Samsung are in a neck-and-neck race for the overall customer satisfaction crown, though the South Korean giant has leapt ahead of Apple and the iPhone with its jumbo-sized Galaxy Note series.
Apple and Samsung both received overall customer satisfaction scores of 80 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual Telecommunications and Information Report. Samsung is trending downward --?losing 1 percent year-over-year --?while Apple added 1 percent in the same time frame.

Motorola came in third at 79, while BlackBerry improved by 5 percent to post a surprising 4th-place finish.
When asked about their current smartphones, owners of Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 were the most satisfied, giving that handset an impressive score of 86. Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus tied with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5 for second place, with each garnering a score of 82.
"Apple's long-awaited and much-lauded redesign of its iconic iPhone may have set new records, but its newer models do not appear to have gained any advantage over Samsung's flagship smartphones when it comes to user satisfaction," the report reads.
Interestingly, Apple's iPhone 5 continues to outpace its successors -- the iPhone 5s and 5c --?in customer satisfaction. The iPhone 5 brought home a score of 80, compared to 78 for the 5s and 77 for the 5c.
The ACSI data is based on interviews with more than 14,000 randomly-chosen consumers in January and February of this year.
Apple and Samsung both received overall customer satisfaction scores of 80 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index's annual Telecommunications and Information Report. Samsung is trending downward --?losing 1 percent year-over-year --?while Apple added 1 percent in the same time frame.
Motorola came in third at 79, while BlackBerry improved by 5 percent to post a surprising 4th-place finish.
When asked about their current smartphones, owners of Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 were the most satisfied, giving that handset an impressive score of 86. Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus tied with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5 for second place, with each garnering a score of 82.
"Apple's long-awaited and much-lauded redesign of its iconic iPhone may have set new records, but its newer models do not appear to have gained any advantage over Samsung's flagship smartphones when it comes to user satisfaction," the report reads.
Interestingly, Apple's iPhone 5 continues to outpace its successors -- the iPhone 5s and 5c --?in customer satisfaction. The iPhone 5 brought home a score of 80, compared to 78 for the 5s and 77 for the 5c.
The ACSI data is based on interviews with more than 14,000 randomly-chosen consumers in January and February of this year.
Comments
I'm amazed that any Android based phone can have such a high satisfaction score.
I'm amazed that any Android based phone can have such a high satisfaction score.
One should always consider that the word "quality" may not rate highly, or have been looked up too often, in the average Android user's dictionary!
Something fishy in this.
Why would an iPhone 4 have a higher rating than a 4s? Or a 5 higher than a 5s?
I am stuggling to understand how they did this survey. I am guessing they only survey the fanboys for each phone type. If they actually found BB users, they are still users because that is what they like and I know they are still out there and of course they will say they like the product.
If this is what they did then it does not surprise me all the product are that close in ranking.
Meaningless report. Utterly meaningless. It's some convoluted 'satisfaction' number that has no effect other than giving geeks ammunition with which to argue. Tell me, folks that run the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, what is the difference between a score of 82 and a score of 86? Even if the data were reliable (and for a lot of reasons, I doubt that), it's a difference of 5%. If this was a K-12 report card, that would mean they both got B's.
And the data? Let's see...you surveyed 14,000 people at random. What statistical adjustments did you make? How were the questions worded? Did you notice trends in one group of owners being more or less inclined to participate? You took all this data and its infinite variables (and flaws) and drew up some abstract number representing "satisfaction." Got it.
The only data that really matters is that which is measured in dollar signs. Samsung's mobile division profits are [B]falling through the damn floor.[/B] Now, they are pretty much announcing they are copying the 6 Plus, even down to the "plus" moniker. You can't make this stuff up. Meanwhile, the iPhone continues to fly off the shelves and Apple is making more money than it knows what to do with. Samsung is going to become the next Motorola if it's not careful.
Probably something like this: "After hearing complaints of ios 8, are you satisfied with it?"
"??????????????????????????????????????????????????????Apple's long-awaited and much-lauded redesign of its iconic iPhone may have set new records, but its newer models do not appear to have gained any advantage over Samsung's flagship smartphones when it comes to user satisfaction," the report reads.
How could a survey like this come to such a conclusion? I would question this even if Apple were on top. It simply doesn’t make any sense. Then there’s the question of why Samsung sales flagging and Apple sales soaring.
Who uses these surveys and for what purpose? Is it just to stir the pot? Do Apple, Samsung, HTC, etc. use information like this to make marketing decisions? Design decisions? Any marketing types in these forums that can answer?
Something fishy in this.
Why would an iPhone 4 have a higher rating than a 4s? Or a 5 higher than a 5s?
The question you must ask yourself is what is ASCI and who does it? We will see where JD Power and Associates rates things in their next report and then we can all have a meaningful discussion.
I wonder what survey questions were asked.
Probably something like this: "After hearing complaints of ios 8, are you satisfied with it?"
This is kind of thing you hear on the news (if you're ever foolish enough to watch the news).
"With all the reports we've been airing about how dangerous it is, are you worried?"
The question you must ask yourself is what is ASCI and who does it? We will see where JD Power and Associates rates things in their next report and then we can all have a meaningful discussion.
Like Strategy Analytics, IDC Gartner, I’ve also lost faith in these satisfaction ratings because they mostly seem to be guns for hire, where Samsung’s $14 billion marketing budget goes a long way to influence outcomes. One way they manipulate satisfaction ratings is to give greater weight to things like price and “value for money” which skews the results.
Last year JD Powers came out with a survey putting a Samsung tablet ahead of the iPad. When readers looked into it they found that in fact the iPad came a long way ahead of the Samsung in every single category except one - Price. But because the Samsung was cheaper it came out overall ahead of the iPad.
When readers checked the math it did not work. Because it didn’t matter how much weight was given to Price, and how little to the other features, the iPad still came out ahead - but JD Powers never explained the discrepancy
It's a metric, it may not be that meaningful, especially considering what is known about purchases of the iPhone 6/6 plus (a large percentage of them are from switchers)
And I am also floored that anyone could consider themselves satisfied with an Android phone but hey, maybe they think it's "good enough".
Something fishy in this.
Why would an iPhone 4 have a higher rating than a 4s? Or a 5 higher than a 5s?
I still have fond memories of holding my iPhones 4 and 5 for the very first time. The iPhone 4 was my first and remains only White iPhone. That iPhone had an amazing feel to it compared to the iPhone 3GS. When the iPhone 4S arrived, I was already familiar with the hardware, but the software (Siri) made the iPhone worth the upgrade for me. The iPhone 5 was the lightest iPhone I had ever felt. Even though I liked the 3.5-inch displays on the iPhones 3GS, 4 and 4S, I came around to liking the 4-inch display on the iPhone 5. As with the iPhone 4S, when the iPhone 5S arrived, I was already familiar with the hardware. The fingerprint sensor, better camera and iOS 7 made that iPhone worth the upgrade for me. The upgrade trend of familiarity will be broken this year since I plan to purchase the iPhone 6S Plus instead of the iPhone 6S. By the time I could have purchased the iPhone 6 Plus, I had missed my comfort window of "newness" with the iPhone and decided to just wait for the next edition of the iPhone 6 Plus.
I still have fond memories of holding my iPhones 4 and 5 for the very first time. The iPhone 4 was my first and remains only White iPhone. That iPhone had an amazing feel to it compared to the iPhone 3GS. When the iPhone 4S arrived, I was already familiar with the hardware, but the software (Siri) made the iPhone worth the upgrade for me. The iPhone 5 was the lightest iPhone I had ever felt. Even though I liked the 3.5-inch displays on the iPhones 3GS, 4 and 4S, I came around to liking the 4-inch display on the iPhone 5. As with the iPhone 4S, when the iPhone 5S arrived, I was already familiar with the hardware. The fingerprint sensor, better camera and iOS 7 made that iPhone worth the upgrade for me. The upgrade trend of familiarity will be broken this year since I plan to purchase the iPhone 6S Plus instead of the iPhone 6S. By the time I could have purchased the iPhone 6 Plus, I had missed my comfort window of "newness" with the iPhone and decided to just wait for the next edition of the iPhone 6 Plus.
I think you're on to something here. I think customer satisfaction depends partially on a comparison to what they had last, and the 4 was a bigger step up than the 4s was, etc. That might explain why older models would have a higher rating. Android users have different (ahem) expectations, but if the new phone is a big step up, they may be satisfied even if it's not as good as other offerings on the market. It would't surprise me if a higher percentage of Android customers were first-time smartphone buyers, or people who upgraded less frequently than the average iPhone customer, so this could also be a factor. The average Android user may also be less demanding in general.
My sister got a a new Android phone last year, and she was thrilled by it because she could usually make it through the day without plugging it in and the weather app showed animations of the current weather conditions, neither of which was true of her previous incredibly crappy low-end Samsung. I even know somebody who loves her Windows phone, but she doesn't understand why anybody would care about being able to run apps on their phone.
As everyone knows, numbers can be made to come out anyway you want them to. As for polls, when was the last time any of the people on this forum actually participated in one or answered their phone because it was an 800 number? I've only been polled maybe once and always screen my calls. If they don't leave a message then I don't call them back. I would estimate the majority of iPhone users screen their phones like I do while Android users always answer their phones so they get polled more often.
There, I created the results of a very scientific poll. Everyone has to believe everything I just published. (sarcasm for those of you who can't see it)