84 percent of iPhone users aim to stay loyal; only 60 percent of Android owners say the same

A new study shows that, despite the fact that Android owns the market share battle, Apple owns the loyalty battle, as far more iPhone users plan to stay loyal to their platform with their next purchase.

The study, by market research firm GfK, showed that 84 percent of iPhone users plan to stay with the platform for their next purchase. Meanwhile, only 60 percent of Android smartphone users said they would buy an Android smartphone for their next device. Only 48 percent of BlackBerry users intended to stay loyal to that brand.

Percentages asides, GfK seemed to feel switching platforms wasn't something that an end user would take lightly, especially as both Android and iPhone have established themselves and have satisfactory end user experiences and hundreds of thousands of apps. Ryan Garner at GfK Business & Technology said:

"The barriers to switching smartphones show the importance of the age-old mindset, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ This mindset has only hardened with the growth of connected devices and rapidly improving user experiences, while cross device accessibility of content is also delivering great benefits to consumers. Those who are satisfied with their current set-up will be difficult to tempt to a new platform and the more services they use, the greater a consumer’s loyalty to a brand.”

Although not specifically mentioned by GfK, we've often cited the "app tax" when speaking to those who might want to switch. In our opinion, each app downloaded to a specific mobile OS is one more reason for the user to hesitate to switch.

The study was conducted with 4,500 users in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.