ISLAMABAD ( MEDIA REPORT )
Parks Associates released new mobile research today showing 86% of U.S. broadband households now own a smartphone. The smartphone markets in European nations, like in the U.S., have become mature and highly competitive.
Among broadband households in Western Europe, 76% in the U.K., 82% in Germany, 78% in France, and 90% in Spain own a smartphone.
“Apple remains the dominant smartphone manufacturer in the U.S., but Samsung is catching up,” said Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. “Apple controls 40% of the smartphone market, while Samsung has 31% and LG is the next closest rival with 10%.”
The research shows one-third of Apple iPhone owners still have a model that is more than two years old, compared to 30% of Samsung phone owners. Forty-five percent of all U.S. broadband households wait two years to upgrade their smartphone.
“Operators are pulling out all the tricks to encourage phone upgrades,” Wang said. “The once-familiar two-year contract, which tied consumers to a two-year phone upgrade cycle, is gradually fading. U.S. carriers started to do away with two-year contracts in 2012, and by the third quarter of 2015, only 51% of mobile consumers had a contract, down from almost 70% at the end 2011.”
The research also shows T-Mobile USA leads in enrollment for early upgrade programs, with almost one-third of its customers enrolled in the company’s early handset upgrade program. AT&T is second, with more than one-fourth of their customers enrolled.
“A customer-centric approach has returned to the mobile service market in the U.S., thanks to T-Mobile’s maverick ‘uncarrier’ moves,” Wang said. “T-Mobile’s strategy has forced AT&T and Verizon to re-examine how they design and market services to consumers. They have responded with moves that either match T-Mobile’s initiatives or benefit their customers in a different way.”