(Credit: Eric Zemen)
Years ago, it wasn't unusual for Cupertino to report upwards of 30% of new iPhone owners as Android converts. That number is now closer to 13% for 2023.
Those numbers have been shifting up and down for the last few years, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). They were stuck at 11% for 2020 and 2021 before jumping to 15% in 2022 with the launch of the iPhone 14 series, which added eSIM and satellite support, among other things. It then dipped to 13% last year with the iPhone 15.
(Credit: CIRP)The highlight of the iPhone 15 is the USB-C connection, which has long been an option of many Android phones. Even though fewer Android users made the leap to iOS, the iPhone 15 helped propel Apple to the number one spot in smartphone market share over Samsung for the first time.
As CIRP notes, Apple has relied a lot more on its "walled garden" approach recently to keep people within Apple's ecosystem by "establishing barriers to Android users seamlessly communicating with iPhone owners, and indirectly encouraging Android owners to switch."
That's a reference to the green bubble controversy surrounding iMessage. Android users have no official way to message iPhone users via iMessage, and Apple has smacked down any third-party workarounds (which has caught the attention of lawmakers). New EU regulations and Apple's adoption of RCS may even the playing field moving forward.
As per CIRP, Apple's strategy seems to be around getting iPhone users to upgrade, as keeping an iPhone for longer than a year has become more commonplace. According to the research, 85% of new iPhone owners are former iPhone owners, and with people keeping their iPhones for longer, Apple has as much of a challenge getting existing customers to upgrade as they do getting Android users to switch.
Somewhat surprisingly, numbers for the inverse are somewhat difficult to find. Some research has suggested that 11% of Android owners are former iPhone aficionados. However, given that switching from iOS to Android can be a royal pain, it's no surprise that Apple manages to keep its users from switching to Team Green.