New Owners Survey Shows iPhone 4S More Popular than its Apple Predecessor

A new survey of iPhone 4S owners by ChangeWave Research division of The 451 Group shows customer satisfaction ratings for the latest Apple smartphone are higher than for its predecessor, the iPhone 4.

The November 2-9 ChangeWave survey of 215 Apple iPhone 4S owners looked at their thoughts and opinions of the new device including overall satisfaction with it, key likes and dislikes, dropped calls, and the impact of the iPhone 4S battery life issue.

Customer Satisfaction

Overall iPhone 4S customer satisfaction ratings show a high degree of approval with 77% of owners saying they’re Very Satisfied and 19% Somewhat Satisfied with their new iPhone. Only 2% of owners say they are Unsatisfied with it.

These iPhone 4S satisfaction ratings are higher than those found in a July 2010 survey of iPhone 4 new owners, as this chart points out.

Top iPhone 4S Likes – Siri Ranks as #1 Feature.
ChangeWave also asked iPhone 4S owners about the specific features they like best about their new smart phone, and by a wide margin the Siri Digital Assistant (49%) ranks number one. General Ease of Use (39%) is the second most liked feature, followed by the 8 Megapixel Camera with LED Flash (33%).

The researcher note that the iCloud Service (19%) another new Apple feature ranked 6th in terms of things owners liked best, after Faster Web Browsing (24%) and Screen Resolution (23%).

iPhone 4S Dislikes. When ChangeWave looked at what new owners disliked most about their iPhone 4S, two things dwarfed all others – Battery Life and the Lack of 4G.

A total of 38% of owners say the iPhone 4S’s Battery Life is Too Short, while 30% say they dislike the Lack of 4G Capability. Only one other dislike reached into the double digits – Screen Size (11%).

The researchers also took a closer look at the battery life issue, noting that shortly after the iPhone 4S release, media reports began focusing on a perceived problem with it battery life. The coverage was in some ways reminiscent of the antenna issue that had plagued the iPhone 4 release back in the summer of 2010.

To gauge the actual impact of the battery life issue on new iPhone 4S owners, respondents were asked if they had experienced reduced battery life with their device. Two-in-five owners said they had experienced reduced battery life with their iPhone 4S (40%), but when asked how much of a problem this issue was for them, only 8% of all owners said it was a Very Big Problem while 20% said it was Somewhat of a Problem.

ChangeWave notes that shortly after the survey was completed, Apple released a software update to their iOS 5 operating system which, among other things, was aimed at improving the iPhone 4S’ battery life.

Dropped Call Rates

Historically, ChangeWave surveys have focused on the issue of dropped calls among wireless service providers. The belief has been that differences in dropped call rates are largely the result of differences between wireless service provider networks. For example, here is a look at the dropped call rates for Verizon vs. AT&T over the last 3 years of ChangeWave Wireless Service Providers surveys.

Current Survey Results

The ChangeWave survey looked at the dropped call rating among iPhone 4S owners, and compared it with the dropped call rating of iPhone 4 owners from a July 2010 ChangeWave survey. The current survey found the overall dropped call rate reported by iPhone 4S owners (2.5%) to be half as much as the rate reported by iPhone 4 owners (5.2%) in the previous survey. Further analysis shows the primary reason for this is due to differences between Verizon iPhone 4S owners and AT&T iPhone 4S owners when it comes to reported dropped call rates.

Back in the July 2010 survey, AT&T had been the exclusive service provider for the iPhone. But in the current ChangeWave survey, nearly two-in-five iPhone 4S owners are using other wireless service providers (i.e., Verizon, Sprint) that have historically shown lower dropped call rates in our surveys than AT&T.

Importantly, in a direct comparison of the dropped call rates between Verizon and AT&T in this survey, Verizon iPhone 4S owners reported only a 1.3% dropped call rate while AT&T iPhone 4S owners reported a 4.1% dropped call rate.

In sum, the lower dropped call rate for the iPhone 4S in the current survey appears primarily attributable to owners now using multiple wireless service providers as opposed to only using AT&T back in the July 2010 survey.

The complete Apple iPhone 4S New Owners Report is available at:
http://www.changewaveresearch.com