iPhone poaches more Android owners than vice versa

CIRP study finds iPhone users are more brand loyal, better educated, and wealthier

It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but once again, research has come out proving that iPhone users are just all around better people than Android users.

No, that’s not true (it’s so subjective…).

Research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners revealed Friday that iPhone owners tend to be more loyal to the iOS brand than Android users. Which we all knew. But, you know, it’s Friday and I gots to get my pat on the back for being an iPhone owner. I picked the right team!

Over the last 12 months, 81% of existing iPhone owners purchased another iPhone. But among Android users, only 68% of existing users purchased another Android device.

Additionally, the number of Android users who switched to iPhone was unsurprisingly much higher than the number of iPhone users who switched to Android. Specifically, some 20% of iPhone owners previously owned Android devices, but only 7% of Android users previously owned iPhones.  

So that’s good news for Apple as the smartphone market grows increasingly saturated. In the first quarter of 2013, smartphone shipments surpassed feature phone shipments for the first time ever. Vendors shipped 216.2 million smartphones in Q1, compared to 202.4 million feature phones. As of June, smartphone penetration in the U.S. has surpassed 50% for the first time.

While Android is the preferred smartphone OS for first-time smartphone buyers, that won’t be enough to maintain Android’s lead when smartphone penetration reaches a saturation point.

Android may have already seen its peak. Data from comScore revealed that from March to June 2013, Android’s U.S. market share stayed flat while Apple’s market share continued to climb by 0.9%. To be fair, IDC came up with different numbers in August. Worldwide, Android commands 69.1% of the smartphone market while Apple maintains a 13.2% market share—a drop of three percentage points from one year ago.

Nevertheless, there may actually be a day in the near future where everyone has either an iPhone or an Android device and iPhone climbs in market share due purely to the number of defecting Android users.

CIRP previously found similar trends among iPhone and Samsung owners. Fully 60% of GS III buyers previously owned an Android phone, while only 9% previously owned an iPhone. But among iPhone buyers, only 37% are coming from iPhone while 20% are coming from Android. Some 30% of iPhone buyers are coming from a standard phone, compared to 18% of GS III owners.

Among the study’s other interesting finds: iPhone owners tend to skew wealthier and more highly educated than Android owners. *All the back pats* 

Image source: edesigngroupus.com