Android users are becoming more loyal to the platform

A report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) suggests that Android users continue to be more loyal than Apple’s iOS operating system. OS Loyalty for 2017 was measured by the percentage of customers that stayed on the same OS while activating a new phone over the 12 months ending in December 2017. 

Google’s OS saw 91% loyalty rate in 2017, whereas iOS saw 86%, with loyalty rates remaining largely stable since 2016. 

"Loyalty for both Android and iOS increased in 2015 and into 2016, when it levelled off for both Operating Systems," Mike Levin, Co-Founder of CIRP, was quoted as saying by MacRumors.

The report says that the rise in loyalty rates isn't just rising since 2016, but currently it’s at its highest than ever. The research is based on quarterly surveys with a sample of 500 subjects each. 

Android has seen a rise from 89% to 91% since January 2016, while iOS has stayed between 85% to 88%. TechCrunch says, the tech giants have now become aiming to extract larger revenues from their respective user bases though their services. Although, we cannot ignore that Android still suffers from low adoption rate, and that's where iOS beats Google's OS. 

We often see Google and Apple luring the customers with reasons to switch to their respective platforms. This is also one of the major reasons why these companies introduce new features in the operating system, it provides them opportunities to take a lead over one other.

The increasing loyalty towards Android could be a sign that customers find better options to explore on the same platform. Many other factors like user experience, dependency, app availability along others affect user commitment. 

Sudhanshu Singh

Sudhanshu Singh have been working in tech journalism as a reporter, writer, editor, and reviewer for over 5 years. He has reviewed hundreds of products ranging across categories and have also written opinions, guides, feature articles, news, and analysis. Ditching the norm of armchair journalism in tech media, Sudhanshu dug deep into how emerging products and services affect actual users, and what marks they leave on our cultural landscape.
His areas of expertise along with writing and editing include content strategy, daily operations, product and team management.