Two issues would make you leave your current smartphone brand

Consumers have their favorite brands, be it cereal, cars or clothes. But chances are, you also have a particular brand of smartphone that you keep coming back to. But what would it take you to reevaluate that?

In a recent survey, we asked readers to weigh what it would take to leave their current smartphone brand for another company’s products. Are you influenced by price, customer service, or something else? That’s how you voted.

What would it take to get rid of your current smartphone brand?

Survey results on smartphone brands

We received almost 5,000 votes on this poll, but two specific choices make up more than 50% of the quota. According to readers, “bad, buggy software” would be the main reason for switching to a different smartphone brand. This answer received more than a quarter (25.4%) of the total vote. Behind this, with 24.1% of reader clicks, is the implementation of “a major price increase”.

With a focus on software, 15.9% of readers would rethink their current smartphone brand if “slow software updates” became a problem. “Problems with the build quality” would be a reason for switching for 12.2% of those surveyed.

Surprisingly, with 12% of the votes, a “lack of innovative features” is only the fifth most critical factor for readers who switch smartphone brands. This suggests that companies that are not innovative but lay the groundwork are more likely to satisfy their consumers.

Continue reading: The best Android smartphones you can buy right now

Finally, the least critical factor, according to readers, is a “decline in customer service quality”. Understandably, this isn’t a huge problem when devices are in good working order, but becomes a problem when making warranty claims or paying for repairs. Only 3.2% of readers think this choice is worth their vote.

We also asked users about other factors they would consider when switching to a different smartphone brand. Several readers tell us that they are not loyal to any particular brand but choose new devices based on several other factors. See some of the selection comments below.

Your comments

• Evie: I’m really curious to see how many Android users are loyal to a brand in the first place?
• Chrome: Well, I’m a fan of LG phones, so …
• Joe Black: I’m not interested in any brand. I would just switch when I find something that suits me better.
• fatspirit: I would leave my current phone for any well-known brand phone with balanced functions, even with not first-class specifications, but with <= 6 = screen.
• Aris Routis: Dropping things like the S-Pen, Dex, One UI, Knox, quality service, quality workmanship. In short, what Samsung, well, Samsung is doing. I could imagine that this applies to all brands.
• AndrewM: I’ll be leaving my S20 for any phone 6.1 inches or smaller, with expandable storage and possibly a headphone jack.
• Austin: I’ve been pretty loyal to LG over the past few years. Was sad to see they were forced to cease their mobile device business. It’s unfortunate when really innovative features only become a niche.
• Ali Marwan: Nothing, I would like to leave OnePlus.
• Wongwatt: I don’t have a “brand”, I just choose the phone I like. I currently have a ZenFone 8 because I imagined a smaller device with a light Android and a lot of power.
• Daddy Geek: My current phone will be the last item I will ever buy from Realme. Your software support is downright disgraceful. They seem to be releasing a new device every week, but they just don’t have the number or talent on their development team to provide updates to existing customers. Add in a copy-and-paste stock response support team and you have the worst experience I’ve ever had from a vendor.
• Chandler Burns: Software support and the actual quality of this software has become extremely important to me, which is why I’m currently rocking a Google Pixel. The new Sony Xperia devices for this year (Xperia 1 III / 5 III) look absolutely gorgeous and are the closest thing to a perfect hardware set I’ve seen this year, but their software support is absolutely horrific for the prices, that they ask for. If they guaranteed the same type of software support that Google, Samsung, and others offer for their devices, I would have good reason to switch. The Pixel 6/6 Pro is evolving into something special, however, so we’ll see what happens.
• Harry: Definitely away from Huawei because of the lack of Google apps. I wouldn’t want to side-load them.
• EasyCare: Long software updates are becoming more and more important to me. Many phones can actually last longer than they should. My capable Galaxy A50 is almost 2 years old but won’t get the next Android 12. Samsung and Pixel are still among the best, but unfortunately still no better than the iPhone.
• DBS: The constant enlargement of phones and the elimination of essential features – like expandable memory and a headphone jack – have guaranteed that I won’t buy Samsung again if I switch from my current phone.

That’s it for this poll. Thank you for your votes and comments. If you have any other thoughts on brand loyalty, the checklist to use before buying a phone, or the results of this survey, please drop them below.