A new survey of US iPhone owners claims that almost a third of them would consider switching to either Samsung or Google in order to get a folding phone this year, rather than waiting until the expected launch of the iPhone Fold next year.
There’s a mix of good and bad news for Apple in the rest of the findings, but the headline claim seems a real stretch …
SellCell’s survey is of 2,000 iPhone owners. The way sample sizes work, that’s a surprisingly meaningful number of respondents if they are representative of the US iPhone-owning population as a whole.
However, the numbers cited in this particular survey don’t seem to add up. For example, it says that 68.3% of current iPhone owners plan to upgrade to the iPhone 17. That’s already a very high percentage given that most people now hold on to their smartphones for between four and five years.
But it goes on to say that 30.3% of respondents would consider buying a folding phone this year rather than wait for the iPhone fold next year – which would point to either the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (shown above).
If Apple waits until 2026, 20.1 percent would consider switching to Samsung foldables and 10.2 percent would look at Google – 30.3% of iPhone users- ouch!
Since the two stats add up to all of those surveyed, we have to assume that SellCell limits the results to those planning to upgrade this year. But 30% jumping ship just one year before Apple’s first foldable, when they haven’t done so any time in the past seven years? That seems highly unlikely to me, even given the weak-ish “consider” rider.
For whatever it may be worth, however, there’s a mix of good news and bad for Apple. The good news is two-thirds of respondents saying they will upgrade to an iPhone 17, which is up from 61.9% for the iPhone 16 last year.
The potentially more worrying news is that a full half of iPhone owners say that Android is becoming more appealing to them.
Almost half of iPhone users (49 percent) say nothing about Android appeals to them — yet the majority worryingly admit Android is becoming more attractive, citing AI (13 percent), pricing (11 percent), cameras (11 percent), and foldables (9 percent).
Some 44% say that Apple AI features are very important to them, which again seems on the high side to me – though this may be explained by the fact that the question included photography and editing tools within this.
What’s your take? Could you really see almost a third of iPhone owners jumping ship purely in order to get a folding phone a year early? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Photos: Samsung, Google
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