CUPERTINO, Calif. — A new study suggests that iPhone owners are more likely to stay loyal to the brand rather than switch to a competitor’s platform.
The study, conducted by UBS Research, found that Apple has an 89 percent retention rate after polling 515 smartphone owners, PCMag reports.
A mere 6 percent said they might drop iOS for another platform and 4 percent were undecided. That means that the retention rate could go up to 93 percent, the study said.
"In general, retention rates appear to be falling for most of the OEMs. Relatively, Apple's retention rates have held up incredibly well even as its market share has risen," the survey said.
Samsung and HTC followed behind Apple and were the only other handset manufacturers to win more users than lose them. RIM, however, dropped from a retention rate of 62 percent to 33 percent in the last 18 months, according to Gigaom.
According to the study, 45 percent of those polled already had an iPhone, followed by 18 percent with a BlackBerry and 16 percent with a Nokia device.
