From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

99.9% of cell phone buyers know nothing about batteries and little about update support. What matters is overall user experience and cost of
ownership. If the phone works for them and they can afford it is all
that matters. If the product does not fill their needs they are more
likely change brands.

Battery capacity and update frequency only matter to the extent that
they satisfy phone owners. Alone, these things you obsess about only
matter to the extent that they work well enough to get owners to stick
with a brand.

The only metric that does matter is owner brand loyalty. It's the only
metric I can think of that measures overall brand satisfaction.

Some highlights of the most recent brand loyalty study I can find.

https://www.phonearena.com/news/iphone-android-loyalty-2026_id179739

Short term loyalty, when you upgrade your phone what are you likely to do?

"A mere 3.6% of iPhone users — just 1 out of 25 — might consider switching, whereas the defection rate for Android users is nearly four
times higher at 13.6%."

Long term loyalty: "The disparity is more evident in long-term
commitment. 83.8% of iPhone users have stayed with Apple for over 5
years, compared to just 33.8% of Android users who have stayed with
their respective brands for the same period."

That is an incredible amount of brand switching for Android OS,
suggesting a lot of brand dissatisfaction. Having tried HTC, Samsung and Motorola myself I can relate.

That said, brand loyalty is increasing for one major and one minor
Android brand.

"Samsung's loyalty jumped from 74% in 2021 to 90.1%, while Google's
retention rose from 65.2% in 2021 to an impressive 86.8%."

This very well could be the fact that these two brands are the ones who
have made OS update pledges to match Apple's long standing practice.
Still, neither matches Apple's 96.4%. Nonetheless it's likely bad news
for other Android brands if they do not match the Samsung and Pixel offer.

Another brand switching insight:

"This is also reflected in the fact that 69.7% of iPhone users select
Samsung in a hypothetical switching scenario. More Android users would
choose Samsung (31.5%) than Apple (26.8%) if they had to switch to a
different brand. However, that still suggests that Apple captures 1 in 4 Android switchers."

All this suggests that Apple's slow gain in market share will continue,
at least for now. Once a customer tries Apple and experiences the total package they are much less likely to switch brands. That, Maria, is the
bottom line. It's not any individual feature. It's the fit of a
company's total offer relative to customer expectations measured against
brand experience that leads to loyalty or a brand switch. Duh, this is a universal property of free market economies.



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