More than 90% of iPhone users are still loyal to Apple

By Joe Wituschek
published

Iphone 13 Design Hero
Iphone 13 Design Hero (Image credit: Joseph Keller / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners has released a new report on smartphone brand loyalty.
  • The research found that over 90% of iPhone customers are still loyal to Apple.
  • Android also still experiences around 90% operating system loyalty.

It looks like loyalty in the smartphone market still remains high overall.

According to new data from research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (via 9to5Mac), over 90% of iPhone users are still loyal to Apple's smartphone in the third quarter of 2021.

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.

The report goes on to say that the iPhone has accounted for 43% of smartphone sales in the United States over the last three years. Samsung, which is in second place, accounted for 31% of sales.

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.

It's always been difficult for Apple to steal Android customers and vice versa and it appears that this year is no different.

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iPhone 13


Bottom line: The iPhone 13 is the best iPhone for most people, with impressive new cameras and notable improvements to battery life. Without all the bells and whistles of the Pro line, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini are still powerhouses that'll keep owners happy for years to come.

Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.

1 Comment
  • Not surprising at all. Apple brand loyalty has been very high for years but Android the OS has never been too far behind. For Android, it sells in low price geographic area markets and is able to expand user base (generally not Samsung or Google phones). Apple, however, has been inching up very slightly in the higher priced markets (but not enough to be a significant change).
    The one thing I'd point out about this story is how it conflicts with the Pixel vs iPhone story just from two days ago. Clearly (and obviously) Pixel would be taking Samsung or Motorola customers -- but that wouldn't make a good story.