Some iPhone users are feeling less satisfied with their devices. Android customers, meanwhile, are over their moon for their smartphones.
In a poll by an outfit called On Device Research of nearly 94,000 U.S. mobile users, the iPhone 5 actually ranked fifth in customer satisfaction behind four different Android models.
The On Device survey did not seek explanations. And Apple still received the highest overall satisfaction rating of any single smartphone maker. Nevertheless, Apple looks to have lost its edge in a market the company basically created.
Perhaps more important: all of the top smartphone models surveyed were 4G capable. And wireless companies offering 4G service received higher customer satisfaction ratings than those that didn’t.
Of course, there are relatively few 4G customers. Though 4G-connected phones generated 19 times more traffic on average than older phones in 2012, 4G represented less than one percent of all mobile connections. How fast that grows will likely depend on the cost of bigger data plans. 4G speeds make it even easier to blow past a monthly data limit.
—Larry Greenemeier
