iPhone Brand Loyalty is Contagious and Spreading Fast

By Holly
September 29, 2023

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Two-thirds of iPhone owners say they are loyal to the brand

Apple has enjoyed fierce brand loyalty for decades but since the emergence of the iPhone, they have acquired a whole new base of dedicated customers and fans.

This customer base is expanding every day particularly in developing markets such as India which represents a massive opportunity for the company due to the population size alone.

Recent YouGov data has shed some more light on this fascinating phenomenon which not only underpins the loyalty to the brand from its existing customers, but also elaborates on how new customers are joining the iPhone base all over the world at a remarkable rate.

A whopping two thirds (65% to be precise) of current iPhone owners globally state that “I am loyal to the brand of my handset”. Compare this stat to under half of those that own any of the dozens of other brands that YouGov tracks and iPhone dominance starts to make sense. iPhone owners are also nearly twice as likely to say that they ‘definitely agree’ with the ‘loyal to the brand’ statement (26% of iPhone owners vs 14% that use other brands).

In the UK, iPhone users are 24 percentage points more likely to express brand loyalty than other handset owners (65% vs 46%). This is typical across various individual markets, particularly in Western countries with the difference between the two groups also being significant in the US (64% vs 46%) and Sweden (58% vs 40%). iPhone brand loyalty is also present in non-Western markets including China (50% vs 45%), Saudi Arabia (57% vs 48%) and India (58% vs 52%) but it is less pronounced which highlights a big opportunity for Apple if they decide to hone in on these markets.

Another interesting statistic from the study is the sheer weight of the iPhone brand among its customers. A compelling 49% of Apple smartphone owners cite brand as a key purchasing factor compared to 37% among those owning other smartphones. Further highlighting this stat is the fact that an impressive 72% of iPhone owners attribute a good prior brand experience to their choice of purchase versus 61% for other brands. Add to this the fact that iPhone owners also over index on other features such as security (38% vs 33%) and their position is accentuated even further especially as this has been an important component of Apple’s recent marketing efforts.

As key as new customer acquisition is for a company, it is customer retention that is vital in a world where the options seem endless. Apple are reigning in this arena too with the YouGov data revealing that 82% of Apple smartphone users would stick with the brand for their next purchase. There is also a 10% share of customers owning other smartphone brands that would consider an Apple-made device as their next phone, so they are ripe to make the switch at any time.

This ‘other-brand’ to Apple switch element is even more significant in India where 18% of this emerging market will be looking to pick up an iPhone as their next smartphone purchase.

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