54% of Near-Term Smartphone Purchasers Still Looking to iPhone 4S

changewave dec11 iphone future share
Citing "explosive momentum" for both Apple and Samsung, ChangeWave Research today released the results of a new survey of North American smartphone customers showing that over half of those looking to purchase a smartphone over the next 90 days are planning on buying an iPhone 4S. The 54% share of future buying plans held by Apple as of December was down from 65% in September, but easily marked Apple's best performance when measured two months after a new product release after demand has generally slackened considerably.

The late December survey looked at smart phone demand trends going forward, and finds Apple iPhone demand remains incredibly strong more than two months after the iPhone 4S release.

Among respondents planning to buy a new smart phone in the next 90 days, better than one-in-two (54%; down 11-pts) say they'll get an iPhone.

Apple has never dominated smart phone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release.

Samsung has continued its momentum among Android smartphone purchasers, with its share more than doubling to 13% among those looking to purchase a new phone over the next three months.

In analyzing satisfaction of existing smartphone users, Apple continues to lead with 75% of owners saying they are "very satisfied" with their iPhones. The iPhone has ranked in the 70-80% range for nearly the entire history of the device. Among Apple's competitors, Android manufacturers Samsung, HTC, and Motorola all score in the 45-47% satisfaction range while Research in Motion has continued its slide with a new low of 22% of users registering as very satisfied with their BlackBerry devices.

ChangeWave's sample base focuses on professionals and early-adopter consumers, somewhat skewing its data toward higher-end users likely to have greater awareness of the market. But the firm's long history of consistent data gathering offers a look at patterns measured from this pool of users that frequently serves to set trends for the rest of the market.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
CarPlay Ultra Climate Controls

Apple Says These Vehicle Brands Plan to Offer All-New CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. CarPlay Ultra features deep integration with a vehicle's instrument cluster and systems, built-in Radio and Climate apps, customizable widgets, and more. The interface is tailored to each vehicle model and automaker's identity, and drivers can also adjust...
iPhone 12 Made in India

Trump Tells Tim Cook to Stop Building iPhones in India

Thursday May 15, 2025 2:21 am PDT by
President Donald Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India, in a potential disruption of Apple's plan to shift iPhone production away from China. "I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said during his state visit to Qatar, according to Bloomberg. "He is building all over India." "They [India] have offered us a deal where...
apple music

Apple Music Gets New Transfer Tool to Make Switching From Spotify Easier

Wednesday May 14, 2025 5:17 pm PDT by
Apple this week introduced a new feature designed to allow prospective Apple Music users to import their saved music and playlists from third-party music services to Apple Music. The feature is either in an expanded testing phase or it has started rolling out, and it is available in Australia and New Zealand according to an Apple Support document. Signs of the transfer option first surfaced...
maxresdefault

Here's the First Real-World Look at Apple's CarPlay Ultra

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:52 am PDT by
The first videos of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience are now available, providing a never-before-seen look at the long-anticipated iPhone-linked infotainment software. British automaker Aston Martin today shared the first video of Apple's CarPlay Ultra experience in-action, followed by a detailed walk-through of the CarPlay Ultra system on Top Gear's YouTube channel, which provides the...
vision pro video recording

WSJ: Some Apple Vision Pro Buyers 'Feel Total Regret'

Friday May 16, 2025 7:43 am PDT by
Apple's Vision Pro headset has left many early adopters expressing dissatisfaction over its weight, limited use cases, and sparse software ecosystem, according to a new article from The Wall Street Journal. In the year following the device's launch, user feedback suggests that it has failed to meet expectations for comfort, software support, and social acceptance. In interviews conducted by T...
microsoft copilot plus pc

Microsoft Says 'We're Faster Than a Mac' in Latest Windows PC Ad

Thursday May 15, 2025 12:29 pm PDT by
Microsoft today shared a new ad on YouTube with the tagline "we're faster than a Mac." In the video, Microsoft says the top-end Windows PCs with Copilot+ branding are up to 58% faster than the previous-generation MacBook Air with the M3 chip, based on Cinebench 2024 multi-core CPU benchmark results. The ad is citing old figures that were reported on all the way back in May 2024, so take that ...

Top Rated Comments

blackcrayon Avatar
174 months ago
No one can touch Apples great marketing machine.

Yes, great products combined with great marketing and customer satisfaction is definitely a recipe for success.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
surjavarman Avatar
174 months ago
Apple has consistently innovated in the absence of competition. Hell, Apple is the one *creating* the viable competition in dead, stagnant or wide open markets in the first place.

Wrong they always had competition. Their ipod lineup had competition from other mp3 players that were in the market before the ipod. Their computer lineup always had competition from other PC makers well before it. They entered the phone market that had already been established well before the iphone. And the tablet market is just an innovation in a market that already exists: the computer market.


They just innovated a phone to beat the competition and earn money. They innovate a mp3 player to make money. They are innovating to beat the competition. They want to make money. Thats why they are doing it. It's business.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
*LTD* Avatar
174 months ago
Yeah I hope all the samsung loses all their % and the rest of the companies too. Apple should have 100% market share and no competition.


That means we'll be paying $3000 for a ****** black and white phone cause Apple doesn't have to do anything because there is no competition. That would be great for everyone
Apple has consistently innovated in the absence of competition. Hell, Apple is the one *creating* the viable competition in dead, stagnant or wide open markets in the first place.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
voonyx Avatar
174 months ago
True. For most of last year before the 4S arrived, there were reports that the inexpensive 3GS accounted for up to half of iPhone sales.

As for customer loyalty, Verizon recently noted something similar to what AT&T has said before: 80% of new iPhone sales are to previous owners.

So basically the carriers have built up a core iPhone user group that they can depend on to keep buying for themselves and their family.

At the same time, Android phones are selling about twice as fast as iOS phones, so intuitively it seems that new customers are going that way.

Yeah, but Android will eventually peak. It's not like Android is going to have 90% of the market, this time next year. At some point, carriers will have built up a core Android user group as well and Android growth will level off.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
colinc Avatar
174 months ago
iPhone != iPhone 4S

...say they'll get an iPhone.

Apple still sells 2 other iPhone models which sell pretty well. So I think it's fair to say that all 54% aren't looking at the 4S.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
paul4339 Avatar
174 months ago
...
As for customer loyalty, Verizon recently noted something similar to what AT&T has said before: 80% of new iPhone sales are to previous owners.
..
Really? You'd think that most iPhone 4 customers are still locked into plans (assuming that many are on plans)... And so the upgrades are from 3G/3GS customers rolling off of their plans. Looking at the historical numbers, the 3G/3GS number from 2009 aren't that high (compared to the iPhone 4 numbers). Interesting.


.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)