Switching Phone Brands? You're Probably Picking Up an iPhone
Apple dominates the minds of people switching between brands of phones this year, according to a new Wave7 survey of US mobile phone retail reps.
When 37 reps were asked which manufacturer is getting "the lion's share of [OEM] switchers," 73% said Apple and 16% said Samsung, according to the analysis firm's May report. Some of those Samsung "switchers" aren't platform switchers, too, as reps included refugees from LG's doomed mobile phone business in the Samsung herd.
The results became fuzzier as Wave7 posed different questions, though. When reps were asked whether they saw more people switching from Apple to Android or vice versa, 51% said switching was "about even."
The report didn't speculate on why these results would be different, but I think it's probably about brand awareness. People switching to iPhones are very aware that they're buying an Apple, whereas people switching to Android may think they're buying "an Android."
Google's own brand doesn't seem to be benefitting from this halo, though, with only one store rep mentioning people noticeably switching to Google to get Pixel phones.
Apple's overall market share is slightly down this month at all three carriers, according to Wave7's report, but not in a meaningful way. At Verizon, iPhone 13 model sales are up and iPhone 13 Pro Max sales are down, the report says.
Overall, though, there's not a lot of motion between platforms in the US market, just as there aren't wild shifts in OEM market share.
"Some reps commented that there are very few switchers, with people sticking to what they know," the report says.
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