A new survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partner (CIRP) suggests that of Apple's iPhone customers between July 2012 and June 2013, an impressive 42% of them were upgrading from a previous iPhone. Better still, it compares Apple to Samsung, and shows that only 7% of Samsung's mobile customers moved across from using an iPhone. The key stats as presented to Fortune:

  • 42% of Apple's customers between July 2012 and June 2013 were upgrading from another iPhone

  • 43% of Samsung's customers had previously owned an Android phone, but not necessarily one made by Samsung

  • Samsung drew more first-time smartphone buyers upgrading from so-called feature phones (37%) than Apple did (26%)

  • Among buyers who switched brands, Apple took three times as many from Samsung (33%) as Samsung took from Apple (11%)
  • Among switchers, Samsung drew more customers from HTC, Motorola (GOOG), and Nokia (NOK), while Apple drew more from Blackberry (BBRY)

All interesting factoids, and there's many a discussion we could have about each of them. It's interesting to see that Apple commands a greater share of the BlackBerry switchers, perhaps more comfortable with the stable environment and the ecosystem that Apple provides, and is more like the BlackBerry they know than what Samsung is serving up.

Also good news for Apple is that their brand loyalty continues to be pretty high. Attracting new customers is always on the list, but you have to retain the ones you already have to stand any chance. The survey doesn't differentiate which of the Samsung customers came from another Samsung phone, just Android, so while their retention figures match Apples, it doesn't mean they as a brand are keeping as many of their customers as Apple does. Apple also took a good chunk more Samsung customers than Samsung did Apple customers.

Tell me though, what do you think of all these figures? Are you a long standing iPhone owner, or have you recently switched? Now is an even more exciting time to be thinking of getting on the platform with iOS 7 and new hardware right around the corner. Or, perhaps you've switched or are thinking of switching to Samsung? Tell us why!

Source: Fortune