iPhone loyalty hits 87% as Android switchers fade

iPhone owners are staying put at higher rates. Research firm CIRP says 87% of people who bought a new iPhone in the first quarter of 2026 were already on Apple’s platform, up from 84% in the same quarter a year earlier.

According to CIRP’s latest quarterly survey, just 12% of new iPhone buyers in the March quarter came from an Android phone. The remaining 1% came from a feature phone, another smartphone platform, or were buying a smartphone for the first time.

That marks a modest but clear shift from a year earlier, when 14% of buyers switched from Android and overall iPhone loyalty stood at 84%. In early 2024, the pattern was similar: 13% of buyers arrived from Android and loyalty measured 85%.

CIRP has tracked this behavior for years by asking iPhone buyers what device they owned immediately before upgrading. In recent periods, the Android-to-iPhone switcher share has stayed in a tight 11% to 15% range. That is far below the iPhone’s earlier growth years, when Apple was expanding beyond AT&T to other U.S. carriers and drawing in much larger numbers of new users.

The numbers reinforce a broader view of the smartphone market: most people picked a platform years ago and rarely change sides. MacRumors notes that other recent surveys point to the same pattern, even if their methods and totals differ from CIRP’s.

Recommended reading

Samsung says Galaxy S26 Ultra red tint is a software bug

Apple may get another retention boost later this year when it ships Siri AI — its revamped assistant — in iOS 27. Winning over Android users looks harder. Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone could help there, especially with buyers already interested in foldables.