As much as Android users make fun of the iPhone for being late to certain features, specs, and technologies, they can’t help but switch to the iPhone in droves.
According to CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, LLC), in 2023, 13% of all iPhone buyers in the US were switching from Android to iOS. Now, that is down from 2022, which had a record high of 15%. But that’s higher than 2021 and 2020 and matches the 2019 percentage.
It’s important to stress that this research is only based on the US market. Where the iPhone is actually powerful compared to the rest of the world. In the US, Apple enjoys a market share of just above 60%. Whereas, worldwide, that falls to just below 25%.
Why are so many Android users switching to iPhone?
While we can’t speak for those Android users switching to iPhones, I do have a bit of an anecdote here. I switched to the iPhone in 2020. The main reason why I did it was to check out the competition and try something new. I’ve been at Android Headlines and reviewed just about every significant flagship since 2012, so I wanted to try something different. And now it’s hard to go back.
Of course, part of that is by design. Apple’s so-called “walled garden”. Apple wants you to get used to its features and how well its ecosystem works together across multiple devices. And they also make it pretty tough to switch out of iOS.
Additionally, over the last few years, Apple has added quite a few features to iOS that Android users absolutely love. Like the App Library, while not perfect, it does allow you to not have every single app on your home screen. You can also make other apps default, like Google Maps instead of Apple Maps or Google Chrome instead of Safari (though every web browser is still basically Safari with a skin on top), among a few other things.
Obviously, there’s one other reason that we should mention here. And that’s iMessage. The blue bubble versus green bubble war has been alive and well here in the US for many years. Adults and teenagers get pressured into getting an iPhone so they will no longer be a green bubble on their friends’ iPhones and ruin the group chats. That is most likely the biggest reason for Android users switching to iPhones, though we’ll likely never know.
2024-02-16 15:07:34