Google’s Android operating system has a more loyal fan base as compared to Apple’s iOS, market research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has revealed.
According to CIRP data, there was a loyalty rate of 91 per cent for Android over 86 per cent for iOS in the year 2017. In January of 2016, this figure ranged from 89 to 91 per cent for Android, and for iOS, it ranged between 85 to 88 per cent.
The research organisation measures the operating system loyalty in the percentage of customers that remained loyal to their OS while switching to a new phone over a span of twelve months which ended in December 2017.
“Loyalty for both Android and iOS increased in 2015 and into 2016 when it levelled off for both operating systems,” said Mike Levin, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP.
As Android and iOS are most popular OSes, majority of users have selected their brand of choice and prefer sticking to it. Owing to this, Google and Apple aim at securing good revenues from their respective customer base.
But, Android users have a wider access to an extensive array of smartphones that support Android. Further, Android, provides additional flexibility to users while trying out new devices without sacrificing their investments in purchased apps.
It is also important to note that the rate of switching operating system is different from the total number of people switching.
“We know Android has a larger base of users than iOS, and because of that larger base, the absolute number of users that switch to iOS from Android is as large or larger than the absolute number of users that switch to Android from iOS. Looking at the absolute number of users in this way tends to support claims that iOS gains more former Android users, than Android does former iOS users,” added Levin.
And since, these loyalty rates cannot be regarded the equivalent of switcher rates and this is where iOS really leads.
