Apple may have a growing iPhone loyalty problem…
It’s beginning to look as if Apple’s decision to make iPhones more expensive has broken one of its most valuable customer metrics: brand loyalty. That’s how I see the data in this report.
iPhone retention down 15.2%
BankMyCell.com claims Apple’s iPhone brand retention may be at its lowest point since 2011.
They argue that this suggests people are switching to different platforms, rather than sticking with iPhones.
I can’t help but imagine that when so many of the new jobs people have these days are low paid, insecure, gig economy jobs, this reflects a truth that most people just don’t feel like they have money to burn.
Let’s take a look at the data:
- On average, 8%of iOS user’s remained with Apple during an iPhone trade-in from Q4’18 to Q2’19.
- Only 4%of iOS users trading in stayed with Apple during Q4 of 2018, following the release of the iPhone XR / XS range
- In June 2019, 18.08% of people trading in iPhones had a Samsung device, the highest figure recorded in our study.
- 24.5% of individuals trading in iPhones during Q4 2018 had moved to a new brand; Samsung (13.8%), LG (8.2%) or Motorola (2.5%).
- On average, 12.4% of iPhone users jumped ship to Samsung, and 6.4% to LG smartphones from Q4’18 to Q2’19.
- 18.5% of people selling an iPhone XS had moved to Samsung – the most significant Apple to Samsung brand switch out of 16 phones.
- 26.2% of individuals trading in their iPhone X moved to another brand compared to only 7.7% of Galaxy S9 users switched to an iPhone, leaving 92.3% predominantly on Android.
There’s lots more information in the report, which you can explore here.
Apple Must thinks…
I saw the light with Apple years ago and my actions show I believe it to be the best platform, for dozens of reasons.
At the same time, maintaining an Apple habit seems expensive. Anecdotally, at least, I seem to have far more conversations with existing iPhone users planning to migrate to other platforms than I once did, and in most cases, they cite price as cause.
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That’s understandable, given so many of the people I speak with are staring at bills they can’t afford even while being in full time employment. They aren’t unique.
I think it would be helpful if Apple recognizes that the aspirational age that gave it such success is changing and found some way to widen its reach – though I fear this is a lesson Apple isn’t yet ready to learn.
We shall see…
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Jonny, looking at the first graph from BankMyCell in your article, it actually shows iPhone loyalty to have gone up not down.
The graph shows that iPhone retention has actually gone up 2.7% from 70.1% in 2018 to 72.8% in 2019 of consumer’s new devices during iPhone trade-ins being another iPhone.
While the number of iPhone users switching to Samsung increased a tiny amount (0.3%), overall the number switching to a non-Apple phone dropped by 2.7%.
So much for an iPhone exodus!
I’ve reached out for clarification – however, if you look to the second image it tells a different story.
Jonny, I see where they went wrong. The second graph is using loyalty rates from other sources, not from BankMyCell to show a supposed drop.
The 2018 figure of 91% loyalty is from CIRP and the 2017 figure is from Statista. Only the 2019 figure of 73% is from BankMyCell’s own data using their own methodology.
But the kicker is that if we DO look at BankMyCell’s own data for 2018 (as shown in the first graph), it shows that iPhone loyalty has INCREASED 2.7% instead of decreased.
In other words, this whole story is completely bogus with BankMyCell showing two completely different results with the supposed drop only being based on a faulty comparison with different survey company results and methodology.
If they had stuck with their own data for 2018 and 2019, the article would be all about how iPhone loyalty had increased since last year.
Completely Crazy.
Also, if they stuck with CIRP’s figures for both 2018 and 2019, they would have had to report that iPhone loyalty in 2019 is actually still at the same all-time high of 91%.
Quite an egregious error methinks.