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

Monday January 9, 2012 9:27 am PST by Eric Slivka

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.
[ 33 comments ]


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blackcrayon
91 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.
Rating: 8 Votes
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surjavarman
91 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.
Rating: 6 Votes
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*LTD*
91 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.
Rating: 5 Votes
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colinc
91 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.
Rating: 3 Votes
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voonyx
91 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.
Rating: 3 Votes
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surjavarman
91 months ago

Better be at 70% next year, hope samsung will lose some %.


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
Rating: 2 Votes
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paul4339
91 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.


.
Rating: 2 Votes
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george-brooks
91 months ago
Has anyone pointed this out yet?

The MR Article claims the data is related solely to the 4S, but the graph (and from my quick glance at the original article, it too) only state people wishing to buy an iPhone, period. Could the large spike around the 4S release also include people looking to get a free 3Gs or discounted 4? Or is the 4S really that much more desirable to the market than any previous iPhone?

UPDATE:
Double checked the original article, only mentions iPhones in general. Someone above me said it was specifically the 4S and the actual number all things considered is probably much higher. Where did you see that the data is only re: 4S? I don't see that anywhere, just "iPhone"


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.


Says demand is still strong after the release of the 4S, but nowhere does it say that that is demand for the 4S and not all iPhones.
Rating: 1 Votes
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inkswamp
91 months ago

No one can touch Apples great marketing machine.


I hope you're not trying to attribute Apple's success to marketing alone or "brand" consciousness. All the customer satisfaction surveys out there consistently indicate that there's more to it than marketing, but even more to the point is that Apple has had plenty of failed products, even recent ones. If it's all about marketing, that should never happen.
Rating: 1 Votes
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gotluck
91 months ago

That's the thing. Most of Apple's competition, isn't really worthy of that title. Until the "competition" starts taking a serious look at vertical integration (Samsung is slowly moving in this direction), it'll always be Apple vs. The Rest.


When it comes to phones, tablets and ipods/music players - yes I agree with you.

Regarding traditional computers, Apple definitely has competition. I remain a PC user and don't feel like I'm missing out not going apple in that spectrum of tech. However, Apple has been on the ball in mobile tech - which is arguably where the future is going, particularly for consumers (but I'll always want a high performance desktop).
Rating: 1 Votes

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