Oliver Haslam on April 12, 2019, 4:26 am

Majority Of Pixel 3, OnePlus 6T Buyers In Q4 2018 Switched Over From Samsung Devices, Not iPhone

When it comes to Android phones, the purest experience is the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and the pair of Google phones are really getting into their stride. Part of that is likely the stellar still photo performance, but whatever the reason, the most interesting fact is most Pixel 3 buyers appear to be ex-Samsung users.

That’s what new numbers published by CounterPoint Research show, with 51% of Pixel 3 buyers having formerly been buyers of Samsung Galaxy phones. The next buggiest number, 18%, is reserved for those switching from the iPhone.

The numbers also stretch to those that made the jump to the also popular OnePlus 6T, with Samsung again proving the most popular company for switches to ditch. This time the number sat at 37%, with the iPhone making up 16%.

Over one-third of consumers who bought the Google Pixel 3 and the OnePlus 6T, during Q4 2018, were previous Samsung owners, according to Counterpoint Research’s US Smartphone Churn Tracker. Less than one in five people who bought either device was a previous Apple user.

While that’s bad news for Samsung, it’s not entirely huge news for Google. We’re sure Google’s powers that be would be much happier to see people switching from iPhones rather than simply from one Android device to another. That being said, we know Google wins so long as people are using their services and the web as a whole, so does it really care which phone they’re doing it on?

We’re sure the folks in the Pixel teams do, and these numbers will surely be a shot in the arm for them. It’s also perhaps telling that Samsung’s Galaxy devices had seen lackluster updates until the Galaxy S10 this year – whether this trend will continue in 2019 remains to be seen.

(Source: CounterPoint Research)