New report shows Android is surprisingly ahead of iPhones in the US

According to a new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the sales of iPhones in the US accounted for 39% of the total number of smartphones sold in the country in the last quarter (Q3 2023). This comes as a surprise because other research firms have been indicating that Apple is the dominant player in the smartphone industry in the United States. That, however, isn’t the most interesting part.

According to CIRP, the data shows that the way people use (or upgrade) Android phones is different from the way people use (or upgrade) iPhones and that explains why iPhones don’t sell as much as Android smartphones.

People don't upgrade iPhones as much as Android smartphones

Going by the data, only 10% of iPhone users upgraded to a new iPhone within a year, whereas, 23% of Android smartphone users upgraded to a new Android phone in less than a year. Similarly, 61% of iPhone users used their previous iPhone for more than two years, whereas, only 43% of Android smartphone users used their previous device for more than two years. The research firm says that there are two possible reasons why people hold on to an iPhone for a longer period of time than an Android smartphone.

The first theory is that iPhones are usually costlier than most Android phones, and that is why, people hold on to iPhones for a longer period of time. Since Android smartphones aren’t as expensive as iPhones, people let go of them more easily and upgrade to a new device more frequently. The second theory is that Apple launches new iPhones only once a year. However, there’s no such limit to Android smartphones. Different manufacturers keep launching new phones throughout the year. Since the frequency at which new Android phones hit the market is higher than that of iPhones, people upgrade to new Android smartphones more frequently.

Samsung leads the global smartphone market

According to CIRP, iPhones don’t sell as much as Android smartphones due to these two reasons.  While these theories make sense, there could be other reasons behind the phenomenon. While we are on the matter, it is worth mentioning that Samsung is currently the number one smartphone brand worldwide, selling the highest number of phones globally, with a market share of 20% in Q3 2023.