Despite its maximum efforts to take market share from Apple and Samsung, Google still remains a niche player in the smartphone market, according to research group Stocklytics.
Although the tech giant aims to win more new users with its latest model – Pixel 8a and its AI-driven software – it seems that Google`s even bigger concern is how to hold on to old users as more and more of them consider switching to other brands.
Stocklytics says Google’s smartphones are facing huge loyalty issues as 57% of old users plan to switch to another brand.
After working with various hardware makers, Google debuted the “made by Google” Pixel smartphones in 2016. However, despite attractive prices and good reviews, the company never really cracked the smartphone market – selling just a fraction of the devices compared to market leaders Samsung, Apple, or Xiaomi.
Two weeks ago, the tech giant launched its latest smartphone, the Pixel 8a, a more affordable version of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro with a starting price of $499 in the US. While Google’s new device is designed to appeal to a wider user base with its AI-driven software, the company is grappling with a significant issue: existing smartphone users are dissatisfied with their devices.
According to a Statista Consumer Insights survey conducted among nearly 10 000 smartphone users in the US – one of Google’s top two markets – more than half of Google’s current smartphone users plan to switch to another brand on the first occasion. When asked how likely they were to change to a different smartphone brand, 57% of them said this was very likely. This loyalty issue could potentially lead to a significant loss in market share for Google.
Google’s loyalty problem becomes even more apparent when compared to its competitors Apple and Samsung. The statistics reveal that Google has 23% more dissatisfied smartphone users than these two brands, with 34% of old users from both Apple and Samsung ready to switch to another brand.
The Statista Consumer survey also revealed discouraging figures about the share of Pixel users willing to stick to the Google brand. Statistics showed the tech giant had only 25% of loyal smartphone users – much less than Apple or Samsung.
As the king of tech brand loyalty in the US, Apple had the opposite results with 50% of iPhone users very unlikely to change their smartphone brand. Samsung couldn’t quite boast that figure, but still had a solid 44% of loyal smartphone users willing to stick to the company in the future.