“Android smartphone owners have become more loyal to their operating system than iOS users over the last two years, according to new data,” Don Reisinger reports for CNET. “Between July 2013 and June 2015, 82 percent of previous Android owners stuck with the operating system when they purchased a new handset, market researcher Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) said Tuesday. Apple’s iOS was close behind with a 78 percent loyalty rate. All data was based on quarterly surveys of 4,000 individuals across the US.”
“The data suggests that, at least among iOS and Android owners, switching to a new platform is not an attractive option,” Reisinger reports. “‘The dynamic between Apple iOS and Google Android is not well-understood,’ Josh Lowitz, CIRP co-founder, said in a statement. ‘Even the basic loyalty rate, the measure of how each operating system retains its own users, is not widely known. Conventional wisdom says the Apple ‘ecosystem’ promotes loyalty, while Android readily gives up users to iOS. Our analysis has a more nuanced view on operating system selection, and indicates Android user loyalty has caught up and even exceeds that of iOS.'”
“What’s worse for Apple, CIRP data shows that 20 percent of previous iOS owners decided to pick up an Android device during the period it evaluated. By contrast, 16 percent of Android users switched to iOS, potentially boosting Android’s market share on the back of Apple’s platform,” Reisinger reports. “The CIRP findings also show another phenomenon: Customers switching to AT&T and Verizon were most likely to also switch from Android to iOS. Customers who moved to T-Mobile or Sprint were more likely to shift from iOS to Android.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First, the carrier changing issue: We believe that people switching to T-Mobile or Sprint (#3 and #4) vs. Verizon or AT&T (#1 or #2) are more likely to be looking for a deal and therefore are more likely to go for Android BOGOF or other promotions.
Now, for the main contention. Simply look at the time period from whence the data were collected: July 2013 and June 2015. That’s nearly 15 months prior to the release of iPhone 6/Plus with larger displays. Larger displays, from many disparate studies we’ve seen, were the #1 reason why iOS users would subject themselves to downgrading to Android. Only 9 months of CIRP’s study covered the period when iPhone 6/Plus with larger displays were available.
This is a very curious time frame. 15 months where people would be most likely to switch to Android for larger displays vs. only 9 months when larger iPhones were available. Was it perchance designed to elicit a newsworthy result?
CIRP, What does the data show for the nine months from late September 2014 – June 2015 when iPhone 6/ Plus with larger displays were available?
We’ve asked CIRP that question above via email and will report their reply when and if we receive a response.
Update 4:15pm EDT: According to CIRP’s Michael Levin, their data shows that, in the U.S. “iOS loyalty spiked in the December 2014 quarter after the iPhone 6/6 Plus launch, then settled back down to the long-term average in the following two quarters. Android loyalty declined somewhat in the December 2014 quarter, and then was consistent with the long-term trend.”
Now, to simplify the bottom line, we’ll round the numbers: If Android has 80% market share and iOS has 20%, let’s then say there are 80 Android settlers and 20 iOS users in a room. If 20% of Android settlers switch to iOS, iOS gains 16 users. If 20% of iOS users downgrade to Android, Android gains 4 settlers. So, now, we have 68 Android settlers left and 32 iOS users in that room.
Extrapolate.
Even with similar loyalty rates (which we still question, especially as Android security meltdowns multiple like rabbits), Android is currently hemorrhaging users to Apple’s iOS.
SEE ALSO:
Apple iPhone sees highest switching rate from Android ever recorded – August 10, 2015
Apple stock target raised as Android to iPhone upgrades surge – May 13, 2015
Nomura ups Apple to ‘Buy’ on strong iPhone growth, increasing Android switchers – July 31, 2015
Significant Android to iPhone switching weakens market for Samsung Galaxy S6 – March 24, 2015
Analyst: Android switchers fueling iPhone growth; Android users even more interested in Apple Watch than iOS users – March 23, 2015
AAPL down over 5%. Most stocks down only 1%.
its because of Chinas money being devalued. and people think Apple prices will be higher and hurt sales
Yeah,we all understand it Rob. Apples’ prices will be higher Rob. It’s simple math.
People dont think.. And act like lemmings .
The same devaluation brings huge gains to Apple with their Chinese suppliers and manufactures ! Same dollar buys more now
… These Gains benifit apple margins everyweher in the world…
Plus if need be can be used to adjust price for the Chinese consumer !
AAPL getting bitch slapped today. Again.
Dropping fast at the end of the day. Watch out for tomorrow. Will really get ugly then.
Might be able to do a quick short and accumulate shares for when they bounce back.
Good! Time to accumulate more shares since they’re selling at a discount!
Dogs are loyal (to a fault) too; does not mean they are smart enough to make good choices.
A perfect example of Disraeli’s warning of there being three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics”.
Android full of security licks
Simple junk
Hitler Youth were quite loyal and look what happened to them.
CIRP claims ^to have discovered three^ U.S. Android users more loyal than iOS users.
There, I fixed it.
Cnet. That says it all! Cnet has been a total waste on the web for more than a decade. Those people are bought by anti-Apple folks who’s business rely on neophytes…
Don’t waste your precious time reading those idiocity…
They mean “more delusional”
Apple fanboys are slightly less delusional, probably within the margin of error, but delusional nonetheless. Both share the same monolithic, biased, ignorant, and narrow minded ideologies and philosophies – just directed to different inanimate objects.
This is where using only percentages are quite misleading.
I don’t know what numbers this study used, but lets look at IDC reported numbers.
As IDC likes to remind everyone, Android has 78% market share of smartphone devices out there while iPhone has 18.3%
With a reported 334 million smartphones shipped, the numbers break down like this:
Android has 261 million and Apple has 61 million.
So 20% went from Apple to Android = Apple lost 12.2 million
16 % went from Android to Apple = Android lost 41.6 million.
So Apple gained a net of 29.5 million
This report focuses on loyalty where the user is NOT a first time buyer. As such the percentages will only represent a portion of the total fluctuation of the user population of each OS. Also as some claim with Android being a more BOGO device there is a bias where people switching from iOS to Android will purchase multiple handsets for each iPhone vs a single iPhone for each Android phone replaced.
Excellent take, MDN.
iOS users most likely switch to Android simply because the phones are dirt cheap. They may not even be switching, but just getting a backup phone, or another line for their kids.
Let’s do a brief, simple, actual analysis here:
1) Android devices are the CHEAP end of the market.
2) People who demand CHEAP are loyal to CHEAP.
3) Therefore, people who demand CHEAP are loyal to Android.
WOW. What a discovery.
Hey! Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP)! How come I just pounded your little hypothesis into the ground by a quick application of LOGIC? Have YOU tried logic? It really is super kewl. Try it soon! 😀
Meanwhile, back in the high end of the market:
Android continued to be ABANDONED for iOS devices. The stats are all there and undeniable.
And now, is in RIGHT now, Android has literally been buried in dire security flaws that can go so far as taking over a user’s device, if not simply crash it. These flaws are, in the majority of cases, NEVER GOING TO BE PATCHED. So what’s the resulting incentive? Abandon Android. DUH. 😀
Most likely a gradual replacement of affected phones with affordable unaffected ones.. In the meantime, MMS is turned off by the user.
There is a new exploit proven on HTC and Samsung devices making the rounds. There’s a patch, but the problem is whether it will be distributed to all affected devices.
If I read the articles for Stagefright and Certifi-gate (I think this is the one you mean) they both require a user’s device to receive a MMS message with a maliciously modified video file. Turning off MMS till a patch (if ever available) will prevent either exploit from being possible in that case.
The new, thrilling exploit of Android is with regards to Fingerprint Reader data storage. Some dolt put the data out in the clear for anyone to rip off. Here’s one article. (Not sure WordPress will accept me posting another link. It’s “HTC caught storing fingerprints AS WORLD-READABLE CLEARTEXT” over at The Register…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/10/htc_caught_storing_fingerprints_as_worldreadable_cleartext/
That sounds awful.. Good thing I don’t have one.. 😛 I guess my relatively small exposure to a huge majority of the exploits being announced for Android devices is good.. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4G touch (no physical home button) running Jellybean. I use no cellular data (MMS seems to require this since I never ever get MMS when using Wifi and why I basically have it turned off), only visit Google Play and Amazon App stores and have a very small number of DLed Apps. Could be a bit faster but overall more than I currently need.
MMS is, from my experience, a service that can be added to a basic cell phone account. I paid an extra $25 to simply have the service turned on for my AT&T cell account. It doesn’t require the Internet or Wi-Fi. I don’t personally know if MMS messages could be directed through some app via Wi-Fi. But if that were the case, I doubt it would trigger the Stagefright security flaws. The problem at least from what I have read and heard, is specific to cell phone communication.
This fingerprint data in-the-clear flaw also applies to the Samsung Galaxy 5 and possibly others.
Your argument with Bogo offers is kind of irreliviant with the elimination of contracts. Not very many people can afford a $650 smartphone.
Too small a data set. And if they are using two year old data, that shows they are picking the data that tells the story they want.
They also need to stop asking customers from Walmart. 😉
So is that saying they are the real phanboi’s?