Connecting the dots: Apple and Google have lengthy urged smartphone customers to defect from their rival’s platform, going as far as to publish apps on one another’s storefronts to clean the method. But a latest survey suggests there may be little motion between customers of the 2 cell working techniques.
In keeping with the newest survey by analysts at Client Intelligence Analysis Companions (CIRP), the share of iPhone homeowners who upgraded from one other iPhone, versus these switching over from Android, rose this yr. The figures counsel Apple customers are at the least glad sufficient to stay with iOS, whereas a good variety of Android customers are nonetheless crossing over to iPhones.
CIRP periodically surveys prospects who purchase new telephones, asking what sort of telephone they owned beforehand. Within the quarter ending March 2026, 12% of respondents who purchased a brand new iPhone mentioned that they had switched from an Android gadget, in comparison with 14% a yr earlier and 13% in 2024.
Just one% upgraded from a function telephone or a smartphone working one other working system this yr, down from 2% in every of the earlier two years. That leaves the share of iPhone patrons who upgraded from one other iPhone at 87%, up from 84% final yr and 85% the yr earlier than. The figures counsel that the majority smartphone customers have already settled on a most well-liked platform.
Whereas CIRP doesn’t observe what number of iPhone customers are shifting to Android, the same survey revealed earlier this yr by SellCell discovered an excellent greater loyalty fee for Apple within the US. Amongst greater than 5,000 smartphone customers, the share planning to stay with the iPhone climbed from 90.5% in 2019 to 96.4% in 2026. Android loyalty, in contrast, sat at 86.4% this yr, and Android customers have been about 4 instances as prone to change to iOS.
The explanations behind Apple’s edge are unclear. The corporate’s latest transfer to assist RCS messaging, which lets Android and iPhone customers trade texts with end-to-end encryption and different superior options, seems to have had little impact on model loyalty.
Android’s comparatively open platform, which lets customers sideload apps, stays certainly one of its most important benefits over iOS. However Google is making ready to limit that performance, a shift that would boring its worth proposition for some prospects.
Generative AI is one other space the place the competing smartphone platforms diverge considerably.
Google has been faster to weave its Gemini assistant into Android, with options akin to auto-scheduling, type auto-completion, dictation, and automated net shopping. Apple is ready to carry comparable capabilities, together with visible descriptions, AI net searches, and doc drafting, to Siri in iOS 27 this fall.
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