The Apple iPhone lineup continually rolls out bestsellers, even though the iconic iPhone frequently offers a feature set that provides specs and designations which are far from the best available. And the iPhone generally costs the same or more than those other smartphones with better feature sets and hardware. The reason for this type of brand loyalty was revealed in a recent report Google published that researched the buying habits and mindset of the typical United States mobile handset purchaser.
Recent data shows that smartphones will actually outsell all other types of handsets for the first time ever this year, and the rapid smartphone growth is due to ever faster network speeds, increasingly numerous technological breakthroughs and so many great choices among multiple carriers. But the Google research shows that even though a smartphone’s predominant cornerstone operation is placing and receiving phone calls, smartphone shoppers think brand and price first before worrying about a carrier’s reputation or performance.
Google points out in the report that competition among multiple handsets is still present, but it is definitely on the downswing. The users surveyed in the poll in March of this year admitted to considering two or more handsets when buying their last smartphone. While that may sound like a good level of competition, it is actually down by over 9% from the previous year. Evidence that this continuing consolidation is probably going to continue is the growth of Samsung as a dominant smartphone manufacturer capable of competing head-to-head with Apple.
This of course is bad news for companies like HTC, BlackBerry and Nokia, but the current downtrend in the number of devices considered is the exact opposite of the movement we see when those shoppers consider wireless carriers. Some 47% of shoppers these days looking for a mobile handset consider more than one wireless carrier. And that number is up by an astounding 134% over last year. This is probably due to the fact that many popular smartphones are available on multiple carriers, and this is leading to those wireless carriers losing their brand grip.
Also, the research shows that 30% of consumers switch carriers when they upgrade their handset, and this is a rise of 39% over the same time period last year. The exact numbers boil down to one third of smartphone shoppers selecting the phone itself first, and wireless carrier second, with a full 25% of those consumers that purchased a device last year deciding on a new phone because they wanted the “latest and greatest.” That means that network quality and carrier reputation was not that important of a buying factor, further evidenced by upgrade eligibility with the same carrier only motivating 9% of all purchases.
