iPhones are a thing, in case you haven’t noticed. Sure, Apple might have “only” a small piece of the international smartphone market compared to Android, but the piece they do have is made up of people who have no problems spending $650 on a mobile phone. Looking at the United States specifically, iOS and Android own 40% and 50% of the market respectively. With each launch of a new iPhone, it looks like Apple is stealing people away from Android, at least according to data obtained by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners group.
The firm surveyed 400 new iPhone users both this September and last September, right after the iPhone launches, and asked them what kind of phone they’re switching from. In September 2012, roughly 16% of those who bought an iPhone were coming to iOS from Android. This year, that number has risen to 21%.
How should you interpret this data? Let’s state the obvious. First, the sample size it pitifully small. It should be at least two and a half times larger for anyone to take seriously. Second, the survey data was collected during just one month of the year. I would’ve like to have seen this data gathered over the course of a quarter. And my final complaint, this is US only. It would’ve been super interesting to see US versus Europe versus China.
But yeah, more and more people are switching to iOS. This shouldn’t be surprising since with each new iPhone and new version of iOS, Apple is improving the platform. Hell, the only reason I’m on Android is because I like big phones. Once Apple comes out with a jumbo iPhone, I know I’m going to be 600 Euros poorer.
[Image Credit: TechnoBuffalo]