Even though there are a bunch of dedicated Apple fans out there, it looks like a few have jumped ship recently. A recent poll by Strategy Analytics shows that Apple’s customer loyalty in terms of the iPhone is down in both the United States and Western Europe. In the US, 88 percent of iPhone users said that they would be purchasing an iPhone for their next phone versus 93 percent from last year. In Western Europe, 75 percent of iPhone users polled said that they plan on purchasing an iPhone to replace their current iPhone. Last year, this number was at 88 percent in Western Europe.
From the study:
“Taryn Tulay, Analyst at Strategy Analytics’ Wireless Device Lab added, “Respondents who say they probably will or definitely will not buy their next phone from Apple is low. However, it is the shift in the number of those who are unsure whether they will remain with the same brand for their next phone that Apple should be concerned about.”
My take on why Apple’s iPhone loyalty has dropped is simple: the marketing done by Android manufacturers is getting better. Even though it may be cheesy, constant comparison between Android phones and the iPhone is likely converting some of the less loyal customers.
Simply put, there’s more competition in the market, and both Android and new Windows phones are catching up to the iPhone in a lot of ways. People are starting to wonder, and consider the other alternatives on the market. That said, thinking about it and actually buying a different brand are two different things entirely. We’d love to see Strategy Analytics re-visit these numbers and analyze the exact same respondents in a year from now to see if they actually purchased a different device or not.