iPhone demand strong months after 4S release
Smartphone buying survey shows Samsung on the rise
Apple and Samsung are rapidly establishing themselves as the two key smartphone sellers - in the States at least.
So says market watcher ChangeWave Research after taking a look at the results of the latest in a regular line of 4000-buyer polls it conducts.
Its most recent figures, produced in December 2011, show that 13 per cent of smartphone buyers who plan to avail themselves of one during Q1 2012 want a Samsung handset, while 54 per cent want an iPhone.
Source: ChangeWave Research
That's not a resounding vote for the Apple product: in September 2011, the last time ChangeWave asked, some 65 per cent of punters said they planned to buy an iPhone.
However, ChangeWave said that there's always a survey-on-survey decline in iPhone demand, especially after a major launch. Interest in the Apple handset plunges after the early adopters have snapped up their new phones.
Except, this time. "Apple has never dominated smartphone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release," ChangeWave noted.
Samsung, by contrast, showed its share of "smartphone planned buying" rising from just five per cent in September 2011 to the aforementioned 13 per cent.
Motorola was up to, by a couple of percentage points, but its share is still in single figures: seven per cent. So is HTC's, but its share of planned buying fell over the comparison period, from six per cent to just three.
Which shows why HTC's results have been poor of late.
Ditto RIM's. Its share of planned buying, based on the ChangeWave numbers, fell from three per cent in September 2011 to two per cent in December 2011.
RIM fared very poorly when smartphone users were asked how satisfied they were with their latest phones: only 22 per cent of BlackBerry users said they were "very satisfied" with their phone, according to ChangeWave.
Source: ChangeWave Research
Compare that to the 75 per cent of iPhone users who expressed the highest level of approval.
Samsung and HTC both achieved 47 per cent, which suggests HTC's recent decline is more to do with the sheer volume of new handsets Samsung is throwing at the market than any failings on HTC's part. Motorola scored a 45 per cent satisfaction rating.
Nokia, incidentally, scored 23 per cent, putting it on a par with RIM. These two really have some work to do on their handsets. ®
COMMENTS
There's an awful lot of
Anonymous cowards on this thread. Clearly don't want to tarnish their user name for the apple bashing later in the year when they can claim the Freetard moral high ground
After all, that's what I'm doing!
(This is a joke by the way)
@ Mark
"No, for most people, Android is number one, Symbian is number two - IPhone number three. That's a fact. It's only (some) techies who seem to think that Apple are the thing everyone should have."
Any chance you could back up these "facts" . A link perhaps ?
'Users' care about things like service and support and frankly Apple are streets ahead - you can walk into an Apple store and speak to someone who knows all about the product, can help you set it up / fix any problems. I would not say the same about buying a Samsung 'Android' handset from a mobile operator / high street phone store.
Yes there will be exceptions but of poor Apple service and exceptional service from another manufacturer but in general the support Apple provide is very good. I also recon iOS handsets have a longer life - people have 3GS handsets still going strong yet manufacturers and the mobile companies lose the enthusiasm to support or update older handsets meaning they end up junked (the cynic in me says all the care about is that you see out the 12 month warranty or 18 month contract). Long term these are important factors and big plusses for Apple.
Samsung did a good job of copying the iPhone - but my concerns with Android still stand - security is a big problem and privacy (would trust my data to Apple more than Google as Google make a business out of selling ads which they 'target' by using your data).
The Galaxy IIs is a decent phone - but it's not an iPhone running iOS.
