iPhone Owners More Loyal To Apple Than Android Owners Are To Google

iPhone owners are loyal or maybe creatures of habit. A new report claims that owners of Apple's iPhone like their devices more than Android owners like theirs. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) published new research regarding smartphone loyalty.

The recently concluded report analyzed four quarters worth of surveys collected between July 2012 and June 2013. CIRP's data yielded notable results, 81 percent of existing iPhone users purchased another iPhone during the 12-month period surveyed. Meanwhile, 68 percent of existing Android smartphone users bought another Android device.

Upon first glance these two numbers are not so vastly different. The 13% percent difference becomes significant when compared against a second metric CIRP analyzed - the rate at which iPhone users switched to Android, and vice versa. During the four quarters of data collection, nearly three times as many Android handset users switched to iPhone as iPhone users switched to Android. In addition, between July 2012 and July 2013 iPhone garnered 20% of it's iPhone owners from Android, meanwhile Android only gained 7% of new users for the Apple device.

CIRP's data indicated that Android users are more likely to switch to the iPhone, and then once on the Apple train, AllThingsD believes consumers than continue to buy more iPhones once they've made the switch. Therefore, it is easy to infer on a broad scale that iPhone owners are more loyal to Apple, than it's counterpart of Android owners. CIRP co founder Josh Lowitz revealed just why he believes that iPhone owners are more loyal.

"We think loyalty is product of comfort with a platform that meets a consumer's needs, and the belief that platform will continue to meet their needs better than any other," Lowitz told AllThingsD. "For a 'loyal' iOS user, there is no question, the next iPhone will create a satisfying ownership experience. For a 'loyal' Android user, there is uncertainty about brand switching and the different features that each manufacturer brings, so even a loyal Android user faces an open market with a new set of decisions."

So to boil down Lowitx thoughts regarding brand loyalty, perhaps iPhone owners stay loyal due to Apple's precision timed release. Android launches new devices every few months, the latest being the Samsung Galaxy, before that it was the Nexus 4 than the Moto X. As for the iPhone, Apple typically launchesjust one a year.

However the large variety of phone type and option does have an upside. While the abundance of available Android devices creates less brand loyalty, it allows buyers to experience multiple different types of software while still staying within the Android brand. "The fragmentation among Android devices has two sides to it," CIRP co-founder Michael Levin explained. "It does create an environment where buyers are less loyal generally, at least to a brand of phone, which probably does extend to operating system to an extent. Yet it also allows buyers to move among hardware brands, and yet stay within the Android ecosystem."

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