Apple beats Samsung in smartphone satisfaction according to J.D. Power

March 21, 2013

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Samsung-vs-Apple

Samsung and Apple have been duking it out with smartphone market share and in the courtroom, but what about customer satisfaction? Unfortunately things haven't gone too well for Samsung as Apple came out on top for the ninth consecutive year. According to J.D. Power, Apple scored 855 and performed well in design and ease of operation. Unfortunately, Samsung didn't even make second place as that went to Nokia with a score of 795. Samsung was a close third with 793, followed by Motorola and HTC.

What makes a user satisfied with their phone? Consumers rank performance the highest (29%) followed by ease of operation (26%), physical design (24%), and features (21%). It should also be noted that the customers surveyed owned their current phone for less than a year.

Hit the break for the full press release.

2013 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study–Volume 1 and 2013 U.S. Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study–Volume 1

Apple Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Smartphone Manufacturers, While LG Ranks Highest Among Traditional Mobile Phone Manufacturers

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 21 March 2013 — Overall satisfaction among smartphone customers increases significantly as manufacturers continue to improve styling, feature sets, usability and software, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction StudySM–Volume 1 and the J.D. Power and Associates 2013 U.S. Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study^SM–Volume 1, both released today.

The studies measure satisfaction with traditional wireless handsets and smartphones among customers who have used their current mobile device for less than one year. Satisfaction is measured in several key factors. In order of importance, the key factors of overall satisfaction with traditional mobile phones are performance (29%); ease of operation (26%); physical design (24%); and features (21%). For smartphones, the key factors are performance (33%); physical design (23%); features (22%); and ease of operation (22%).

The Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study finds that satisfaction among smartphone customers is 796 (on a 1,000-point scale), an increase of 22 points from 2012. This improvement is likely due to a growing array of new features and services being offered that are providing a seamless product experience between the operating system functions and third-party apps. While satisfaction in all factors of the smartphone customer experience increases from 2012, satisfaction has increased the most in performance (26 points), as a few key attributes, such as operating system reliability, processing speed and video/camera picture quality, have improved significantly.

“As the capabilities of wireless phones and their applications continue to expand, and as customers grow more reliant on their device, handset manufacturers have an opportunity to further shape the customer experience and impact satisfaction with better integration of services and more communication options, such as video chat,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of telecommunications services at J.D. Power and Associates. “It is important, however, that manufacturers meet the expectations of those customers who take advantage of such offers by ensuring the features are intuitive and, ultimately, rewarding to them. Providing an easy-to-use, yet powerful operating system with the ability to customize applications to suit individual needs is essential to providing a high-quality and rewarding wireless experience.”

Among traditional mobile phone customers, overall satisfaction has remained virtually unchanged during the past two years. However, among the 42 percent of traditional handset customers who indicate they are likely to purchase a new mobile phone in the next 12 months, 76 percent say they “definitely will” or “probably will” upgrade to a smartphone.

“Satisfaction remains relatively unchanged among traditional mobile phone customers, likely as a result of heightened awareness of advanced services available on smartphones and the lack on new device offerings with upgraded feature sets,” said Parsons.

For the ninth consecutive study, Apple ranks highest among manufacturers of smartphones in customer satisfaction. Apple achieves a score of 855 and performs particularly well in physical design and ease of operation.

For the third consecutive study, LG ranks highest among traditional mobile phones with a score of 719. LG performs particularly well in the physical design and features factors. Nokia (714) follows LG in traditional mobile phone rankings.

The 2013 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study–Volume 1 and the 2013 U.S. Wireless Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study–Volume 1 are based on experiences evaluated by 9,767 smartphone customers and 6,759 traditional mobile phone customers. Both studies were fielded between July and December 2012.

Robert Nazarian Author

Robert lives in upstate New York where he was born and raised. Technology was always his passion. His first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80 Color that used a cassette tape to save programs, and his first laptop was a Toshiba T1200FB that sported a CGA greyscale screen and two 720kb floppy drives (no hardrive). From the early 90’s through late 2011, he only owned Motorola phones starting with the MircroTAC all the way through to the Droid X. He broke that streak when he bought the Galaxy Nexus. Now he's sporting a Galaxy Note 4, and absolutely loves it. He has a wonderful wife and a 6 year old son. In his free time he enjoys sports, movies, TV, working out, and trying to keep up with the rapid fast world of technology.

7 comments

Mikesphoneandtab says:

April 7, 2013 at 2:21 AM

The iPhone is Waaaaaay more simple than any Android device. So if that is why the won that award, then they deserve it. However, I wonder why they don’t sell bikes with training wheels at a premium price and I wonder why a Big Wheel doesn’t get 5 star rating from professional bikers?

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Gary says:

March 22, 2013 at 12:37 AM

Outside the US and apple would be 4th or 5th…

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Anthony says:

March 21, 2013 at 7:26 PM

what a joke!! I can’t tell you how many people I know personally, who have left iphone for android and wish they had not waited so long!! My wife has a Bionic and loves it. Her job just assigned her an iphone and she thinks it sucks.

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joker22joe says:

March 21, 2013 at 5:38 PM

Faggots own apple

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joker22joe says:

March 21, 2013 at 5:37 PM

Get consumer reports on the case jd powers is bought and paid 4 there a bull shit Co 4 proffitt fukk JD

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M42 says:

March 21, 2013 at 2:40 PM

They didn’t survey me and I’ve owned two iPhones and now a Samsung. Let me put it this way, I will never own another iPhone again. It’s an overrated, over hyped Crapple fanboy toy.

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darshan gandhi says:

March 21, 2013 at 12:29 PM

lol the above article was specially funded by apple in hopes of converting samsung galaxy users to iphone….utter FAIL

Reply