Trade-in data shows the Galaxy S6 tempts iPhone owners, but people still want their Apple

The Galaxy S6 & s6 edge might not be selling by the boatloads that Samsung hoped for, but this certainly isn't due to shortcomings in them. While some measure of potential customers may have been put off by the omission of microSD slots and removable batteries, the slow sales growth has to be attributed to the saturation in the high-end smartphone market segment. Basically, flagship smartphones are good for some three years of everyday use before they start to age, and even then, most customers don't feel compelled to upgrade immediately, unless the benefits are huge, or they score an awesome deal.

Still, what Samsung may lack in sales, it more than makes up in brand awareness. People out there know that the Galaxy S6 & edge are awesome. Previously, people were like "here's another expensive Samsung plastic phone", which is definitely the worse position to be in. Hence, interest in the Galaxy S6 & S6 edge has manifested itself in impressive trade-in market performance. Survey data by trade-in monitoring websites CompareMyMobile and GadgetValuer shows unprecedented interest in the Android flagship(s) from Apple and Samsung upgraders.

Making slick handsets and feeding them into consumers' minds on silver platters only goes as far as to let Samsung keep up behind Apple.

Although users eyeing the GS6 & GS6 edge with glee account for a modest 18.5% of the websites' everyday activity since the 10th of April, 50% of those are trading in an older Samsung flagship phone, and 41% are trading in an aging iPhone. Other brands, such as HTC, Sony, and LG, command sub-2% percentages. The top 5 devices being traded-in for the GS6 & GS6 edge are the Galaxy S4, iPhone 5, Galaxy S5, iPhone 5C, and iPhone 5S. Interestingly, the bulk of last year's Galaxy S5 upgraders switched from Sony and Nokia devices.

That's good news for Samsung, but it appears Apple still gets more consumer love in the trade-in circles, as 22% of people surveyed since the 10th of April are upgrading to the iPhone 6. Only 17% of them were trading in a Samsung device, though - the rest were Apple loyals upgrading from an older iPhone.

So, what's the takeaway? The most glaring one we can think of is that when it comes down to consumer attention, Sony, LG, and HTC — long-time makers of superb Android smartphones — are still painfully small-time compared to Samsung, and the reason for this is marketing. Making high-end phones to impeccable standards is grueling enough as it is, but sinking in billions of dollars to match Samsung's marketing investments and global exposure is downright impossible for smaller mobile businesses.