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The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) has today released its annual rankings of customer satisfaction for mobile phones in the United States. While Apple had the highest customer satisfaction index score for the second year in a row, its score has fallen slightly while competitors like Motorola Mobility, Nokia, and Samsung have all gained in score.

Apple is still at the top of the list when it comes to smartphone satisfaction, but this year's ranking of 81 (out of 100) is two percent below its 2012 ranking of 83. Motorola phones came in second after Apple, hitting a ranking of 77 after a 5% gain year over year.

cellulartelephones.jpg
Nokia remained high on the list with a 1% gain giving it a score of 76, and Samsung experienced the most growth at 7%, bringing it to a score of 76. HTC and LG both saw drops in satisfaction while BlackBerry remained on the bottom of the list with a score of 69.
?????????????????????The improvement [of Samsung] is the largest yet for any cell phone manufacturer, and earns Samsung a position even with the industry average and Nokia (+1%) and just behind second place Motorola, up 5% to 77. Nevertheless, Samsung remains well behind industry leader Apple.
Since the May 2012 customer satisfaction survey which was the first that ranked smartphones, Apple has introduced its newest phone, the iPhone 5, while Samsung has debuted several devices including its most recent Galaxy S 4.

The ACSI also ranked wireless telephone service, with Verizon and AT&T experiencing small gains in satisfaction. Verizon ranked first with a score of 73 outranking Sprint's steady 71, which earned it the top spot last year. AT&T went from 69 to 70, and T-Mobile dropped to last place with a score of 68.

wirelesstelephone.jpg
The ASCI bases its customer satisfaction index on a survey of 70,000 people in the United States that asks customers about the products and services they use the most. It measures satisfaction with more than 230 companies that span 43 industries and 10 economic sectors.

Article Link: Apple Still Tops in Cellphone Customer Satisfaction, but Losing Ground to Samsung and Others
 

ValSalva

macrumors 68040
Jun 26, 2009
3,783
259
Burpelson AFB
These other companies have virtually nowhere to go but up. Samsung is selling a lot of stuff so it's not surprising their satisfaction numbers would be up. Seems logical.
 

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,720
Boston, MA
This isn't terribly surprising. Samsung, especially, has been bringing their A game, despite what the haters say.

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Motorola 77? Compare iPhone to any Motorola. Day and night. ******** score.

All this is is a consumer satisfaction score. The numbers would indicate that users of Motorola devices are pretty pleased with their purchase. It does not mean they would be more, or less, pleased with an iPhone. You just need to understand how to interpret the data.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,354
5,532
It's not accurate to state that Apple is losing ground to Samsung. Apple's cellphone customer satisfaction numbers might have declined slightly (we have to keep in mind that any rating like this will have margins of error) but that loss is not going to Samsung (it's conceivable it could be if people are rating their satisfaction as relative to other phone manufacturers but that's not a given). Customer satisfaction for a particular manufacturer is independent of other manufacturers (most of the time, again relativism can play a role but it's not being measured).
 

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,720
Boston, MA
Maybe losing ground, but still way ahead.

In terms of customer satisfaction, it would seem not. Unless, of course, four points equates to "way ahead" in your book? Truth be told, these numbers are all quite similar when considering the probable margin of error. What this tells me is that LG and BlackBerry have work to do!
 

iSteve-O

macrumors regular
Oct 2, 2011
233
57
Samsung's doing something right. Consumer Reports just named the Galaxy S4 the best flagship phone.
 

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,720
Boston, MA
It's not accurate to state that Apple is losing ground to Samsung. Apple's cellphone customer satisfaction numbers might have declined slightly (we have to keep in mind that any rating like this will have margins of error) but that loss is not going to Samsung (it's conceivable it could be if people are rating their satisfaction as relative to other phone manufacturers but that's not a given). Customer satisfaction for a particular manufacturer is independent of other manufacturers (most of the time, again relativism can play a role but it's not being measured).

Excellent. Somebody gets how to interpret the data. Two thumbs up!
 

Raftysworld

macrumors 6502
Oct 28, 2011
287
0
I know from personal experience that most Android fans act like they love their phones but then have all kinds of problems with them. Meanwhile, most people love and continue to love their iPhones for the duration of ownership. So these statistics are pretty biased.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
I must admit Apple caught everyone off guard in the smartphone and tablet markets, even without being the first in those markets. My concern is still the long run and now even more so without Steve.
 

Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
So this tells me that, out of the 4 Nokia phones sold in the US in 2012, 3 of the owners are satisfied.



Michael
 

iGrip

macrumors 68000
Jul 1, 2010
1,626
0
The trend is terrible.

Will Apple be able to hang on to its PR advantages over the years? What happened to "It Just Works"? What happened to "When it doesn't work, simply shlep to a suburban shopping mall and get helped by a friggin' Genius?"

The trends are disturbing.

What's next? "When it doesn't work, and the best help we provide some college aged kid who couldn't get a better job, we'll give you your money back?"

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I know from personal experience that most Android fans act like they love their phones but then have all kinds of problems with them. Meanwhile, most people love and continue to love their iPhones for the duration of ownership. So these statistics are pretty biased.

So Android owners ignore reality and tout their brand out of some sort if misguided loyalty to a corporation?

Apple fans would NEVER do that!


/s
 

shenan1982

macrumors 68040
Nov 23, 2011
3,641
80
I agree with the findings. My satisfaction with Apple has dropped in the past couple of years. If not for the seeming stagnation of innovation, for sure the degradation of overall customer service both from AppleCare and in-store.

On the flip side, Samsung has been improving product quality, and improving customer support, so one can't just say Samsung can only go up. Samsung has always been a good product, they've just had Apple killing them in customer service, so a little rise in Samsung service, and a little drop in Apple service will kill the gap real quick.

Unfortunately I think Apple's best days are behind them. I have had 4 iDevices (iMac, iPhone, iPad, now a new iMac) which have failed within the first 90 days of owning them. Obviously this has an impact on my overall customer satisfaction, and while I understand things happen, it's how a company responds. It used to be that when things failed in a reasonable time, Apple really stepped up and tried to do right by the customer, yet in the last year with these failures, I've felt like I've had to push them to do the right thing in each instance.

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The trend is terrible.

Will Apple be able to hang on to its PR advantages over the years? What happened to "It Just Works"? What happened to "When it doesn't work, simply shlep to a suburban shopping mall and get helped by a friggin' Genius?"

The trends are disturbing.

You're precisely correct. Us apple fans have always given them a little leeway because things have "just worked" ... for years we tolerated having a generation or two old technology in exchange for the reliability, but as of late, Apple's reliability factor has been dropping, yet prices haven't fallen and the innovation hasn't increased.
 

Michael Scrip

macrumors 604
Mar 4, 2011
7,922
12,470
NC
I must admit Apple caught everyone off guard in the smartphone and tablet markets, even without being the first in those markets. My concern is still the long run and now even more so without Steve.

What about companies who never had a Steve?
 
M

Mr.damien

Guest
It's not accurate to state that Apple is losing ground to Samsung. Apple's cellphone customer satisfaction numbers might have declined slightly (we have to keep in mind that any rating like this will have margins of error) but that loss is not going to Samsung (it's conceivable it could be if people are rating their satisfaction as relative to other phone manufacturers but that's not a given). Customer satisfaction for a particular manufacturer is independent of other manufacturers (most of the time, again relativism can play a role but it's not being measured).
Well, how do you expect this thread to become full of trolls and generate cash with ads if they remove it from the title ?
 

Oletros

macrumors 603
Jul 27, 2009
6,002
60
Premià de Mar
I know from personal experience that most Android fans act like they love their phones but then have all kinds of problems with them. Meanwhile, most people love and continue to love their iPhones for the duration of ownership. So these statistics are pretty biased.

Ah, when Android owners lie about their experiences and Apple users only reflect reality.

Cool story, bro
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
What about companies who never had a Steve?
Smartphones and tablets had been around for years. Steve just stepped in at the right moment when processing, storage, and connectivity was just right and slap Apple's interface on top of that. You do not need to be first.

Apple relies heavily on buying into their vertical infrastructure which is something I never wanted to take part in. So I have the flexibility of multi-platform features instead of being trapped with Apple.
 

Davvid

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2012
24
0
Who needs a smart phone anyways. I think people will wake up and realize they are wasting their life poking at a little box like a chimp, while at the same time they have lost many real friends, after buying into 2 year contracts which are more and more becoming mainline advertisement feeds. I hope Apple, Samsung and Microsoft all go out of business, and people learn how to really be social again. It won't happen on this forum, and it won't happen on a smart phone. I think and hope sales will continue to drop. Better to invest our money somewhere more socially responsible.
 
Last edited:

iRun26.2

macrumors 68020
Aug 15, 2010
2,123
345
What about companies who never had a Steve?

And what about those companies that didn't have a competitor (with a Steve) to copy?

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Who needs a smart phone anyways. I think people will wake up and realize they are wasting their life poking at a little box like a chimp, while at the same time they have lost many real friends, after buying into 2 year contracts which are more and more becoming mainline advertisement feeds. I hope Apple, Samsung and Microsoft all go out of business, and people learn how to really be social again.

Well, now there's a positive outlook...
 
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