Loyalty Is Waning Among iPhone Users

Historically, iPhone users have proven a loyal bunch with relatively few of them opting to switch brands when they decide it's time for an upgrade. That may be changing, however, with a survey from BankMyCell finding that iPhone loyalty has fallen to its lowest point since 2011. The research involved the company collecting data from 38,000 people trading in and upgrading their iPhones between October 2018 and the end of June 2019. It then compared those findings with historic data to gain an insight into customer upgrade cycles.

Last year, iPhone retention was 92 percent and that has now fallen to 73 percent. The survey also found that 26.2 percent of people trading in their iPhone X switched to a different brand such as Android. By comparison, a mere 7.7 percent of Samsung Galaxy S9 users opted for an iPhone when upgrading. Out of all iPhone models, people trading in the iPhone 7 Plus were found to be the most loyal with 81.7 percent of them staying with Apple for their next smartphone purchase. BankMyCell source their data from people who use their service and the company readily acknowledges that it does not represent total upgrade sales across channels like auction sites and carrier stores.