Survey: More than half of those looking for a new smartphone will make it an iPhone

By Trevor Mogg January 9, 2012

If the results of a new survey are anything to go by, Apple looks like it’s in for a good year as far as sales of its iPhone go.

ChangeWave Research’s survey of 4,000 consumers in the US and Canada found that among those considering purchasing a new smartphone in the next 90 days, 54 percent said they intend to get Apple’s latest version of its popular mobile device, the iPhone 4S.

“Apple has never dominated smartphone planned buying to this extent more than two months after a major new release,” ChangeWave Research said.

Samsung also performed well in the survey, with 13 percent of those planning to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days saying it’ll be a device made by the South Korean company.

“This represents nearly a tripling of consumer interest in Samsung phones just since fall 2011,” ChangeWave Research reported. The recently released Galaxy Nexus—the first smartphone in the US to run the the latest Android 4.0 OS, otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich—is reported to be of much interest among the 13 percent.

The survey, which took place in December, makes difficult reading for Research In Motion, with the figure for planned buying of its smartphones falling to the lowest ever. Only 2 percent of those looking to buy a smartphone in the next 90 days said they intended to get a BlackBerry device.

ChangeWave Research’s survey also looked at customer satisfaction among smartphone users. Again, Apple came out on top, with 75 percent saying they were “very satisfied” with their iPhone. Samsung and HTC polled joint second, with 47 percent saying they were “very satisfied.”

At the lower end, only 22 percent of BlackBerry users said they were “very satisfied.” No doubt the recent service outage suffered by BlackBerry smartphone owners was still fresh in the minds of many when the survey was taken.

It’s widely expected that Apple will release a new version of its iPhone some time this year, a move that will most likely generate even more interest among those in the market for a new mobile device.

Editors' Recommendations