It’s not just Apple: Android users are more loyal than ever

iPhone users have long had a reputation for upgrading to the next Apple handset without much thought, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is freely bouncing between Android brands. This shows that smartphone owners are becoming more loyal overall, and the numbers prove it.

according to a new cellsale survey Of more than 5,000 US smartphone users, iPhone loyalty is now 96.4%. It’s no surprise, but Android loyalty isn’t weak at all, at 86.4%. The company says this is significantly up compared to its earlier surveys, with loyalty towards the largest Android smartphone OEMs increasing rapidly.

That said, Android users are still far more likely to make the switch than iPhone owners, with 13.6% saying they’ll make the move compared to 3.6% of Apple users. At a glance, it might seem like Apple is doing a much better job of keeping people on its side, but that’s clearly not a fair comparison. Android users can move from Samsung to Pixel or another brand and still remain an Android user, while an iPhone owner who changes brands has by definition left Apple. There will be a subgroup of users who consider all phone brands at each upgrade, and of those, the only ones considered Apple users are those whose last swap was to an iPhone.

This nuance also helps when you look at where potential switchers say they’ll go next. Among Android users considering the move, 31.5% said Samsung, 26.8% said iPhone, and 21.2% said Google Pixel. So yes, Apple is picking up a fair share of potential switchers from Android brands, but that doesn’t prove that Apple will naturally increase its overall market share based on that figure.

The survey also shows that price and value are the key drivers of movement. For iPhone users considering switching, 25.8% said other brands offer better value, and 24.7% said iPhones are too expensive. Among Android users, 31.8% cited better value elsewhere, and 27.1% said another brand had better technology.

The most interesting Android-side takeaway might be how much Samsung and Google have improved in terms of loyalty since 2021. CellCell says Samsung loyalty has increased from 74.0% to 90.1%, while Google has increased from 65.2% to 86.8%. Apple is still the stickiest brand in the world, but it’s not the only brand whose users seem reluctant to stray. What would be scandalous would be that the gap between what brands offer and their price is so small these days that users have less reason to consider new OEMs.