A new study has revealed that three times as many US customers switch from Samsung to Apple, than vice versa.
According to the study released by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, among US buyers who switched brands, Apple took three times as many from Samsung (33%) as Samsung took from Apple (11%).
However, the results show the bigger picture to be more mixed, with Samsung pulling in more feature phone customers seeking their first smartphone than Apple managed (37% vs 26%).
Among brand switchers, Samsung drew more customers from HTC, Motorola, and Nokia, while Apple drew more from BlackBerry.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck notes that although these results could seem surprising, it should be viewed in the correct context. "Samsung's target market is far broader than the iPhone user. So if there are 100 million iPhone users, there are a billion other phone users that are all being targeted by Samsung. So only a small proportion of their [Samsung's] growth will come from Apple users, while Apple's growth depends on them getting new users who were previously using other brands," he explains.
He says the results do not prove that Apple is better than Samsung, but are only an indicator of Apple's smaller consumer base in the global market.
Not so low-cost
According to new rumours, Apple's expected budget iPhone may be less low-cost than anticipated, suggesting the company will not make quite the break into the lower cost smartphone market that has been expected.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has reportedly written a research note that suggests the budget iPhone, supposedly to be called the iPhone 5C, could retail at around $400 to $500.
A number of reports state this suggested price does not come as a total surprise as there have been previous murmurings that Apple has simply not been able to cut the cost by enough to deliver a low-cost iPhone.
Goldstuck says should this suggested price be true, the phone will allow Apple to enter the mid-range smartphone market, but is unlikely to affect the lower end of the market. "They should do well in the [mid-range] market, but the developing world is waiting for a low-cost smartphone."
He points out, however, that Apple has not revealed any details surrounding a budget smartphone and that analysts are "just guessing" at this stage.
Postponed
The Apple rumour mill is also churning around the launch date of the company's budget iPhone. The iPhone 5C was expected to be launched around the same time as the iPhone 5S, rumoured to be set for release on 10 September.
However, Kuo's research note reportedly suggests the launch date has been postponed towards the end of September "due to supply constraints". Kuo believes Apple will release its low-cost iPhone alongside the fifth-generation iPad.
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