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iPhone loyalty drops to its lowest level in a long time as users flock to Samsung

by Adrian Diaconescu / Jul 18, 2019, 5:02 AM

Like many other major mobile device vendors, from Samsung to LG, Apple has seen its sales numbers decline recently, a trend that's unlikely to be reversed anytime soon. But the Cupertino-based tech giant has largely relied on two things when maintaining a positive outlook. Namely, profit margins and loyalty rates.

While companies like Samsung and Huawei still have a long way to go until catching up with Apple's major cash cow, a new report compiled by BankMyCell (via Cnet) suggests brand loyalty among iPhone owners might not be as impressive right now as just a couple of years back.

A big drop from 2017's all-time high levels of enthusiasm

Before sinking our teeth into this data collected from over 38,000 people in the last nine months, we should probably highlight brand and OS loyalty are significantly harder to measure objectively and accurately than things like shipment figures and profit margins. That's why staggering differences can sometimes be found between similar reports released just six months apart.

iPhone loyalty was measured at no less than 92 percent before the iPhone 8 was released in 2017

Case in point, iPhone loyalty sits at 73 percent today, according to BankMyCell, compared to 91 percent back in January, as per research conducted by CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners). Essentially, these numbers vary widely depending on who you ask and especially the sample size of your survey. Although the 38,000 aforementioned people represent a small piece of the US trade-in market, CIRP extrapolated its figures from a sample of only 500.

With all that out of the way, let's see if we can understand exactly what that 73 percent rate means. Basically, it means only 73 percent of those who traded in their iPhones since October 2018 chose a new model from Apple, with the other 27 percent instead picking an Android device. If that doesn't sound too bad, you may want to contrast the number with the 92.3 percent loyalty rate of Samsung smartphone users.

The gorgeous Galaxy S10+ design might be one of the reasons iPhone loyalty is declining

What's even worse for Apple is that a whopping 18 percent of iPhone trade-ins migrated to a Samsung handset in June 2019 alone, presumably contributing to the box-office success of the Galaxy S10 family. Meanwhile, by using a combination of first and third-party data, BankMyCell claims iPhone loyalty has fallen to its lowest level in no less than eight years. The slide from as recently as 2017 is outright shocking, as 92 percent of iPhone users expected to stick with Apple just two years ago.

Blame it all on the iPhone X and iPhone XS

While things might not be as bad in reality as this new report suggests, the enthusiasm of long-time iPhone owners to immediately upgrade to the next version has undoubtedly declined in recent years to a greater or lesser extent. You don't have to dig very deep for a reason either, as the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR have all racked up sales below expectations, failing to impress the masses with their designs and largely lacking groundbreaking new features.

The iPhone XS may not feel special enough to convince iPhone X owners to upgrade

Of course, competition has also stiffened, as Samsung and other top Android brands have managed to make headlines with sleeker high-end designs and excellent price/quality ratios. Apple may need a major redesign to bring iPhone loyalty rates and sales numbers back up, but alas, it looks like we'll have to wait until 2020 for that to happen.

In the meantime, this fall's iPhone 11 lineup will try to stand out primarily with a bunch of camera enhancements, although the new shooter arrangement remains just divisive enough to pose a big problem for Apple in terms of mainstream popularity.

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47 Comments

1. cmdacos

Posts: 4324; Member since: Nov 01, 2016

Has to be fake news, right peaceboy?

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 5:16 AM 26

14. pimpin83z

Posts: 597; Member since: Feb 08, 2019

LMAO! Is he still around?

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:46 AM 8

23. sgodsell

Posts: 7574; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

I think peaceboy was just an account from Apple to help pump up their loyalty. Well it looks like it didn't work out for that peaceboy account. The real problem is Apple only gives you one choice in terms of pricing. It's high or higher. Take your pick. Plus Apple purposely killed off their SE lineup because those were the cheaper iPhones, and iPhone users would still flock to those cheaper iPhones. Samsung at least has a ton of different models at every price range. Apple likes to use words that try to trick people. Like the XR is the budget model, or it's great value ($750 USD, $1030 CAD). Only a blind, ignorant, loyal sheep would believe those words. In the Android world you can get brand new $200 smartphones every year, that keep on adding in more features and options every year that were once on other flagships. The other thing is Apple has really changed their service prices to the point that it's not worth it. Or another way of looking at Apple's service racket is through Apple's extortion insurance, or better known as Apple Care. As if it cost Apple $550 to repair the glass back on the iPhone X. It's even more for the XS, and more again for the XS max. Even the XR costs over $400 to fix the glass back. No one on the planet believes that it cost Apple that much to fix the glass back on any of those iPhones. Apple has a good insurance scam going. Anyone with half a brain can see that.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:17 AM 7

47. sissy246

Posts: 7129; Member since: Mar 04, 2015

He is here, he uses his new name, iloveapps.

posted on Jul 21, 2019, 8:57 AM 0

16. iloveapps

Posts: 909; Member since: Mar 21, 2019

Samsung galaxy was blockbuster? In other news, Xr was the best selling phones followed by iphone 8 and Xs Max. How is 4th and 5th galaxies blockbusters then. Certainly fake news.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:54 AM 1

41. oldskool50 unregistered

I have a question for you. 18% of the trades of iPhones were to Galaxy devices. Most likely the latest A and S models. I wanna know, how you feel about that??? Oh and as far as Apple selling their cheap XR....SO WHAT!!!! THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO SELL THEM. But check this out though. The XR was the top selling model, but Apple total sales still dropped. I can assure you with full confidence, that due the the iPhone XI price, the fact it's more ugly, Apple iPhone sales will fall to in between 150-170M phones and will continue to drop. And now that Huawei is back, Apple marketshare in India is gonna fall to zero, just like how Samsung is at zero in China. And then Apple is gonna be zero in China too.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 9:38 PM 4

27. Vogue1985 unregistered

Yeah like your life and existence. Robot

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:25 AM 0

30. scarface21173

Posts: 702; Member since: Aug 17, 2014

You mean PI$$BOY

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:53 AM 6

2. mahima

Posts: 743; Member since: Nov 20, 2014

Who still buys the big wide notch

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 5:25 AM 18

3. TheOracle1

Posts: 2340; Member since: May 04, 2015

Iloveapps, Leo, Midan and apple-foolz will soon be here to tell us fandroid and samsung users are bottom feeders and OKC should never have traded Westbrook. Both points being off topic of course and ignoring the real reasons for the continuing iPhone decline.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 5:31 AM 24

15. pimpin83z

Posts: 597; Member since: Feb 08, 2019

apple-foolz Good one.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:50 AM 9

4. inFla

Posts: 180; Member since: Aug 17, 2018

Way past time to dump Cook.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 5:47 AM 11

7. blingblingthing

Posts: 980; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

Steve jobs would have been selling 4" screened phones today and only a 9.7" tablets. iPhone 6 wouldn't have existed and Apple would have been less successful.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 6:15 AM 1

13. cmdacos

Posts: 4324; Member since: Nov 01, 2016

You don't seriously believe this do you? That Cook's Applenwoukdbhave outperformed Steve's Apple if Steve was still here? That's a no for sure. Tim ran Steve's roadmap for years and has nothing now.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:23 AM 7

32. TBomb

Posts: 1662; Member since: Dec 28, 2012

@cmdacos: you got a point, imo. Apple had at leas a 5 yr roadmap from Steve's departure. the 5 years is up and apple is struggling. Tim will stay until until profit stagnates overall. my guess is within 2 years after their services meets that 50M or whatever number they claimed they'd be next year.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:58 AM 1

5. mackan84

Posts: 631; Member since: Feb 13, 2014

Great for consumers! Now get to work Apple!

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 5:56 AM 2

8. blingblingthing

Posts: 980; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

People not starting to realise that Apple's taglines aren't facts. When they say best camera ever, they're talking about what they make, since they know they aren't in league with the competition.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 6:17 AM 15

19. JCASS889

Posts: 609; Member since: May 18, 2018

That's why they always say the best "iPhone" ever.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:04 AM 4

28. sgodsell

Posts: 7574; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

They use to say best in any phone. But Apple hasn't had the best hardware for many years.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:25 AM 5

6. Mike88

Posts: 438; Member since: Mar 05, 2019

This news came when more and more Samsung users are now moving to Apple after sticking to Samsung for many years during their difficult time even. People doesn't trust Samsung anymore so maybe some apple users are moving to Samsung but more and more Android users are also switching to iphone.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 6:08 AM 1

10. Back_from_beyond

Posts: 1473; Member since: Sep 04, 2015

Got any proof of this? Samsung's sales have been going up this year, up and down the range. Apple's sales have been confirmed to be heading down, so what you're saying doesn't match reality.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 6:39 AM 21

17. iloveapps

Posts: 909; Member since: Mar 21, 2019

Read the Samsung fb group in the world. They sold their phones due to weak performance, heating, laggy, apps crashes, poor design due to edges and poor battery

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:56 AM 1

18. iloveapps

Posts: 909; Member since: Mar 21, 2019

And oh I forgot, camera sucks.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 7:57 AM 1

24. ShadowSnypa786

Posts: 622; Member since: Jan 06, 2017

Isnt the the Samsung s10 5G rated the best camera? Doesn't the S10 series have better battery life than iphones Doesn't the S10 beat Iphones in opening and closing apps also in RAM management? "poor design " LOL give me curved edge over notches any time of the week

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:19 AM 13

20. Fred3

Posts: 583; Member since: Jan 16, 2018

Sooo you're comparing a fb group to sale numbers??

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:04 AM 8

31. lyndon420

Posts: 6878; Member since: Jul 11, 2012

He's struggling to make some kind of valid point like always, but it always backfires.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:55 AM 8

29. ssallen

Posts: 214; Member since: Oct 06, 2017

Every group talks like that. The only people who really post on them are people who have problems. You see the same thing in Apple reddits and support forums. The real numbers show a very real (if small) downward shift in Apple loyalty. You can't refute it. Sorry if that ruins the one thing you base your self esteem on.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:27 AM 2

26. ssallen

Posts: 214; Member since: Oct 06, 2017

Actually, every STUDY has said the opposite. Higher % of switchers from Apple to Android. Not a massive change, but you are still very wrong.

posted on Jul 18, 2019, 8:25 AM 3

48. sissy246

Posts: 7129; Member since: Mar 04, 2015

LMFAO Thanks for that laugh. People are getting smarter and see that the iPhone is over priced for what you get. People are also not trusting apple anymore for trying to be sneaky.