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You might be surprised by the most popular Samsung phone in the US
In a recent post from Kantar World Panel, looking at the circumstances surrounding the recent Galaxy S8 launch, an interesting little tidbit was dropped than I never would have seen coming. According to Lauren Guenveur, Kantar’s global consumer insight director, the most popular Samsung phone in the US as of February this year is the Galaxy S5.
Now, I know a lot of folks hang onto phones for longer these days, but I wouldn’t have expected a phone announced over three years ago to still be chugging along in the number one spot, far ahead of its more recent – and much, much better – competition.
According to Kantar’s figures, the Galaxy S5 still lives in the pockets of an impressive 15.6 percent of Samsung’s US consumers. The Galaxy S7 only just nabbed second place ahead of the Galaxy S6, with 11.5 percent and 11.4 percent respectively. The S7 Edge came in a distant fourth with just 5.8 percent of Samsung’s user base.
Considering how much praise has been heaped on the Galaxy S7 Edge in the last year, and the fact it continued to be the primary Galaxy flagship for an entire year following the Note 7 recall, it’s kind of sobering to know that even after all that, almost three times more people have an S5 by their side. Of course, when the S5 came out, it was the only option, with two flagship variants on offer ever since.
Almost three times more people have a Galaxy S5 by their side than an S7 Edge.
Nevertheless, you can’t hold onto a phone forever and in the last 12 months Kantar reports 28 percent of Samsung owners upgraded to a newer Galaxy phone. Just over half of those were to the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and yet, even with such large numbers of upgrades, the S7 and S7 Edge combined are only just able to topple the mighty S5 on its own. As an odd side note, owners of older Galaxy phones are more inclined to buy a new Samsung phone than owners of more recent devices.
It just goes to show that when you build a great phone it can (almost) last forever. Just think of all those dedicated iPhone 4s stalwarts and committed twice-daily charging fanatics who refuse to give up their trusty Nexus 5. Personally I wouldn’t have guessed the Galaxy S5 was in the same league as those two classics, but the numbers don’t lie. As much as I hope Samsung never makes a phone as ugly as the Galaxy S5 again, I have to say: well done Samsung.