Report: Brand loyalty at an all-time high of 92% for Apple as Android brands take a dive

26% of Samsung Users will Switch to another Phone Brand when they Upgrade

With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on nearly every facet of the smartphone industry, there is no question that 2020 has been a rough year for smartphone vendors.

Following a decline in the first three quarters, however, the smartphone shipments saw a positive rebound in Q4 thanks to heavy demand for iPhone 12 units, which also helped Apple beat its rival Samsung in sales for the first time in four years.

With Samsung having launched its flagship Galaxy S21 series a month earlier than its usual timeframe in an attempt to take back the top spot, we decided to do a follow-up to our 2019 brand loyalty survey to study the following:

brand loyalty of five major smartphone brands,
preferred brand of choice for switchers,
factors affecting brand loyalty and brand switching,
most popular and least popular flagship smartphones.

Note: The survey included more than 5000 US-based smartphone users, aged 18 years or older, with any of the five major smartphone brands, including Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, and Motorola.

SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

Survey reveals the brand loyalty for Apple is at an all-time high of nearly 92% (up from 90.5% in 2019)
Meanwhile, Samsung loyalty has dropped 11.7% from 85.7% in 2019 to 74% in 2021
Apple users are nearly 18% more loyal to their brand than Samsung users
26% of Samsung users will jump ship to another brand next time they upgrade
Of the Samsung defectors, a majority (53%) will switch to an iPhone the next time they upgrade, with most (31.5%) indicating privacy concerns as the main reason for the switch
At over 25%, value for money also seems to be a significant rationale for switching away from Samsung
Much like Samsung, brand loyalty among Google Pixel users has dropped 18.8% from 84% in 2019 to 65.2% in 2021
Motorola and LG users are the most disloyal bunch, with circa 71% and 62.6%, respectively, of existing users stating that they will be looking to move when they upgrade
46.6% of respondents think the new iPhone 12 range is the best range vs. 30.4% who think the S21 range is their favorite

iPhone Users	Samsung Users
Nearly 92% (91.9%) of iPhone users intend to buy another iPhone when they next upgrade, up 1.4% from 90.5% in the 2019 survey Only a mere 8.1% intend to switch to a different brand	Brand loyalty among Samsung users has dropped 11.7% from 85.7% in 2019 to 74% in 2021, survey reveals More than a quarter (26%) intend to switch to a different brand
RESPONSES FROM BRAND LOYALISTS
A combined 61% see no reason to switch as they like their brand best or never had an issue with it	A combined 64% see no reason to switch as they like their brand best or never had an issue with it
21% prefer to stick with Apple because they are too locked into the ecosystem	In contrast, only 5% said they would stick with Samsung because of the ecosystem
10% are with Apple only because they think switching operating system from iOS to Android is too much hassle	18% would switch if it wasn’t too much hassle changing operating system from Android to iOS
8% would rather prefer to stick with what they know than switch brands	A slightly higher 13% of Samsung loyalists said they prefer to stick with what they know than switch brands
RESPONSES FROM BRAND DEFECTORS
46% of iPhone defectors would switch to a Samsung handset, while 35% would instead get a Google Pixel device. Other responses – LG (6.1%), Motorola (3.7%), Other (9.2%)	A majority of Samsung defectors (53%) would get an iPhone, while 24% would instead get a Google Pixel device. Other responses – LG (8%), Motorola (3%), Other (12%)
The top 3 reasons why 8.1% of iPhone users intend to make a switch were: Other brand has better technology (eg. screen, camera, battery, etc.) – 38% Prefer the design of other brand – 26.4% Latest model from the other brand has more features than the latest model of my current brand – 12.9%	The top 3 reasons why 26% of Samsung users intend to make a switch were: Other brand offers better privacy protection – 31.5% Other brand offers better value for money – 25.2% Just fancy a change – 13.9%

IPHONE USERS

1.) We asked iPhone users whether they intend to stay with their current brand or switch to a different one the next time they upgrade, and here is what we found out:

A whopping 91.9% of iPhone users intend to buy another iPhone when they next upgrade, which is up 1.4% from 90.5% in the 2019 survey
Whereas a mere 8.1% said they would switch to a different brand

2.) When asked about the main reason why they intend to stay with their current brand of phone, these were the responses:

45% of iPhone users expressed they like their brand best and don’t want to change
A little over two-in-ten iPhone users (21%) wouldn’t want a change of brand because they are locked into the Apple ecosystem
A combined 18% wouldn’t defect because they think switching from iOS to Android is too much hassle or prefer to stick with what they know
16% don’t see any reason to switch to a different brand as they never had an issue with the current one (Apple)

3.) To the 8.1% of current iPhone users who intend to switch, we asked to pick a brand they would consider for their next smartphone purchase, and the results were:

As many as 46% of Apple defectors selected ‘Samsung’ as their next smartphone brand
Meanwhile, 35% would get a Google Pixel phone the next time they upgrade
Other responses — LG (6.1%), Motorola (3.7%), Other (9.2%)

4.) We inquired the same set of iPhone defectors about the main reason why they would be moving to a different brand, and the responses were:

38% highlighted better technology (including screen, camera, battery, etc.) as the main reason they intend to switch to a different brand
26.4% of iPhone switchers said they prefer the design of another brand
About 13% think the latest smartphone model from another brand has more features than its iPhone counterpart.
Nearly one in 10 users (9.2%) who intend to switch said they prefer Android OS over iOS
6.7% think a different brand offers better value for money, while a measly 3% are switching for better privacy protection
Meanwhile, 3.7% noted they just fancy a change

SAMSUNG USERS

1.) We asked Samsung users whether they intend to stay with their current brand or switch to a different one the next time they upgrade, and we found out that:

74% of current Samsung users intend to buy another Samsung handset the next time they upgrade, which is down 11.7% from 85.7% in the 2019 survey
On the other hand, more than a quarter of existing Samsung owners (26%) have decided to get a different brand on their next smartphone purchase

2.) When asked about the main reason why they intend to stay with their current brand of phone, these were the responses from Samsung loyalists:

41% said they like their brand best and don’t want to change
A combined 31% wouldn’t defect because they think switching from Android to iOS is too much hassle or prefer to stick with what they know
23% don’t see any reason to switch to another brand as they never had an issue with the current one (Samsung)
Only a mere 5% cited being locked into the Samsung ecosystem as the reason why they intend to stick with the brand

3.) To the 26% of current Samsung users who intend to switch, we asked to pick a brand they would consider for their next smartphone purchase, and the results were:

Survey reveals a majority (about 53%) of Samsung defectors would switch to an Apple iPhone when getting a new smartphone
24% would consider Google Pixel as their next smartphone brand
Other responses — LG (8%), Motorola (3%), Other (12%)

4.) Finally, we inquired the same set of Samsung defectors about the main reason why they would move to a different brand, and these were the responses:

Better privacy protection (31.5%) is the #1 reason why these users intend to get another brand
About a quarter (25.2%) think they can get better value for money elsewhere.
While nearly 14% of Samsung switchers said they just fancy a change, another 13% noted they prefer iOS over Android OS
7.8% cited personal design preferences for making the switch, while a mere 5% think a rival brand offers better technology (including screen, camera, or battery)
Only 3.6% of defaulters think a competing brand has a more feature-packed model than what Samsung has to offer.

GOOGLE USERS

We asked Google users whether they intend to stay with their current brand or switch to a different one the next time they upgrade, and we found out that:

65.2% of current Google Pixel users intend to stick with the brand the next time they upgrade, which is down 18.8% from 84% in the 2019 survey
But 34.8% said they plan to switch to a different brand

LG USERS

We asked LG users whether they intend to stay with their current brand or switch to a different one the next time they upgrade, and here are the results:

Only 37.4% of LG users intend to stick with the brand, down 23.9% from 61.3% in the 2019 survey
Whereas a majority (62.6%) would switch to a different brand when they next upgrade

MOTOROLA USERS

We asked Motorola users whether they intend to stay with their current brand or switch to a different one the next time they upgrade, and the responses were:

Only 29% of Motorola users intend to stay with the brand, down 32.1% from 61.1% in the 2019 survey
The remaining 71% would switch to a different brand when they get a new smartphone

IPHONE 12 TOPS THE LIST OF MOST POPULAR SMARTPHONES

We further asked the respondents to pick their favourite model from a list of all flagship smartphones released in or after August 2020.

It should come as no surprise that Apple iPhone 12 topped the list with 17% of the overall votes, closely followed by iPhone 12 Pro Max (12.7%) and Samsung Galaxy S21 (11.4%).

LG Wing 5G, Motorola Razr 5G, and Motorola Edge S were among the least popular picks with 2.3%, 1.2%, and 0.8%, respectively, of the overall votes.

You can find the whole list below, with smartphones ranked in order of votes received.

Apple iPhone 12 — 17%
Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max — 12.7%
Samsung Galaxy S21 — 11.4%
Apple iPhone 12 Pro — 10.6%
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra — 10%
Samsung Galaxy S21+ — 9%
Google Pixel 5 — 8.1%
Apple iPhone 12 Mini — 6.3%
Other — 5%
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G — 3.1%
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5G — 2.5%
LG Wing 5G — 2.3%
Motorola Razr 5G — 1.2%
Motorola Edge S — 0.8%

CONCLUSION

While the survey reveals Motorola and LG to be the worst affected brands when it comes to brand loyalty, it isn’t all that surprising given their declining market share in the US.

With the introduction of radical new privacy features, Apple has certainly managed to increase public awareness around tracking and about the importance of protecting one’s digital privacy.

The drop in customer loyalty among Samsung and Google users could be a testament to growing privacy consciousness among consumers.

‘Better privacy protection’ (31.5%) is the main reason why Samsung users would want to switch to a different brand, according to the survey.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

The report is based on an online survey – conducted between March 03-10, 2021 – involving more than 5000 smartphone users, aged 18 years or older, based in the United States.

The survey sample consisted of 2000 Apple iPhone users, 2000 Samsung Galaxy users, 400 Google Pixel users, 300 LG handset users, and 300 Motorola handset users.

The responses to the survey were collected without storing any personally identifiable information of the involved respondents.

The motive of the survey was to study brand loyalty for the top five smartphone brands in the US, including Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, and Motorola.

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