Google has larger issues than iMessage making Android customers change to iPhone
Extra individuals change from Android to iPhone than the opposite method round, and that’s the way it has all the time been. Apple’s iMessage has been seen as a key product that may persuade shoppers to maneuver from an Android handset to an iPhone. And Google’s relentless, fruitless, and barely cringey marketing campaign to disgrace Apple into supporting RCS within the iPhone’s Messages app helps that concept.
However new analysis reveals that Google nonetheless has larger issues to repair. iMessage is the least of Google’s issues, as Android switchers have extra vital causes for switching to iPhone.
Client Intelligence Analysis Companions (CIRP) penned a follow-up to one in every of its earlier reviews, and it now affords precise figures. They’re nonetheless estimates, thoughts you, however we now have extra to go on than we did after the agency’s preliminary report.
CIRP mentioned a couple of days in the past that between 10% and 15% of latest iPhone consumers within the US come from Android. The speed has been regular over the previous a number of years however elevated in latest quarters. Within the 12 months ending in March 2023, an estimated 15% of iPhone consumers got here from Android.
CIRP then requested Android switchers why they moved to iPhone, and it revealed the small print in a follow-up report.
The corporate explains that some switchers couldn’t articulate why they modified working programs. They simply “wished one thing new.” However others did in reality clarify why they deserted Google’s Android in favor of Apple’s iPhones.
In accordance with CIRP, these are the 4 essential classes of people that switched from Android to an iPhone:
- Prior cellphone issues: their previous cellphone didn’t serve them, as a result of it was growing old, wanted restore, or had some deficiency that affected their consumer expertise
- New cellphone options: they wished extra and other ways to make use of their smartphone, like a greater digicam, enhanced accent choices, or a extra intuitive consumer interface
- Value: they may spend much less on a brand new iPhone than they anticipated or than on a comparable Android smartphone
- Group connecting: they wished a smartphone that integrates with household and associates, together with utilizing iMessage and FaceTime on iOS
I’m not stunned to see iMessage on the listing of causes for shifting to iPhone. The chat app has been perceived as one in every of Apple’s essential weapons to maintain customers loyal to iOS and persuade others to get an iPhone. However I used to be stunned to see the odds for these classes.
As you’ll see within the following chart, solely about 6% of individuals fall into that fourth class, which mentions entry to iMessage and FaceTime.
The overwhelming majority of Android switchers had issues with their Android gadgets (53%). New cellphone options positioned second with 26%, whereas price was a stunning third at 15%.
Issues over pricing had been stunning as a result of iPhones are costly. However Apple does promote older handsets which might be cheaper and but nonetheless outperform the most recent Android gadgets. Add the promo offers that Apple affords and the service offers that always ship free iPhone upgrades, and the price will make sense.
Surveys like CIRP’s won’t all the time paint probably the most correct image. However the report reveals that the blue iMessage bubbles Google is combating aren’t essentially the most important downside for many Android switchers. Points equivalent to the standard of Android and Android gadgets could be larger issues.
What Google can repair right here is the working system so it might make Android as interesting as potential to customers. However, as we’ve seen, that’s not sufficient. Even longtime Android customers aren’t proud of the general Android app expertise.
As for {hardware} high quality, Google can solely management its Pixel gadgets. And Pixel gadgets have all the time had software program and {hardware} points themselves.
