Who Bought The iPhone 4S? Survey Says: BlackBerry Users, iPhone 3 Owners

As you may have heard, the iPhone 4S has been released to the world. But who, exactly, is buying it?

According to a recent survey by consumer electronics site Retrevo: Blackberry users and owners of early-generation iPhones like the 3G and the 3GS, mostly. Per Retrevo's survey of over 1,300 electronics shoppers:

It is a little surprising that iPhone 4 owners are almost even with iPhone 3G and 3Gs owners in their plans to upgrade to the iPhone 4S. Early reviews have painted the iPhone 4S as a more essential update for those with earlier-generation iPhones, though, if the Retrevo survey is to be believed, it appears that those with the iPhone 4 are almost as eager to upgrade. BlackBerry owners, meanwhile, are twice as likely to make the switch as Android owners -- and this survey was done before RIM's massive network problems that affected BlackBerry users worldwide earlier this week.

Retrevo also surveyed its customers' reactions to the new iPhone 4S and found that 47 percent of iPhone owners were disappointed in the new phone. The biggest reason, however, was not the lack of a new design (disappointing 21 percent of respondents), but rather the lack of 4G capability. AnandTech hypothesizes that this has to do with wanting to preserve the thinness of the iPhone and the battery life of the device, both of which Apple might have had to sacrifice to make their iPhone 4G capable.

The iPhone 4S is available now, and as usual, people have been lining up in hordes outside Apple stores around the world. Despite the early sentiment that the iPhone 4S was somehow "disappointing," pre-orders have smashed previous records held by the iPhone 4, and AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have all reported that there will be delays for customers who ordered early.

Comments

[ashb]

11:42 PM on 10/16/2011

What's the deal with that chart? The percentages add up to 122.

[frank day]

11:58 AM on 10/16/2011

Android users are laughing.

[Philip Masiello]

11:27 AM on 10/15/2011

I have 2 words for the new iPhone4S....Life Changing primarily because of SIRI. This singular piece of technology is changing how I function every day. It consolidates my daily tasks better than any thing else I have used in the past.

I was one of the first to jump on Blackberry many years ago and tried the iPhone when it first came out. Blackberry is great for emailing in the corporate world; simple, fast, easy. The iPhone was always a struggle for me to type on the keyboard so emails became too difficult for me to adopt. I decided that I would give this one a shot.

Yes, the apps are phenomenal, yes the interface has always been great. BUT SIRI is what makes this version life changing. I can move quicker, complete tasks quicker and not have to worry about typing anything. This iPhone leaves all other products in the dust. I am now converted!!

[ivera]

04:11 PM on 10/15/2011

Still waiting waiting for Santa to bring mine :)..but I'm sure like you I too will love it

[DrReve]

08:10 AM on 10/16/2011

Yeah, Siri is serious stuff. Most people don't know that it came from the largest artificial intelligence project of its kind. It took 5 year and 300+ researchers working on the project "CALO" funded by DARPA, conducted by SRI International (Stanford Research Institute). That's what Apple got with Siri when it acquired it from them. It's current iteration/release (like the app before it), is just the tip of the iceberg. Apple is slowly integrating it with iOS and will be updating its "brain" as Scott Forstall from Apple said. But, its A.I. capabilities are multiple times more powerful and it's years ahead of anything else. This is nothing like simple voice-command/dictation that you see on other phones, this is serious A.I. in process. research "DARPA's CALO project"

[Philip Masiello]

09:01 AM on 10/16/2011

That is great information. Thank you!

[Crim]

02:43 PM on 10/16/2011

Funny how every single review I've read of SIRI in use has said that it just brings up web pages when you search for things. This has been on andriod for years. Glad you're able to convince yourself otherwise.

[Emanuel T Olff]

07:57 PM on 10/14/2011

Picture this, your grandparents standing inline for the latest rotary phone. Now that was a revolution! You people are a F$%cing joke...

[stealur]

11:26 PM on 10/14/2011

Because, it is only a phone, right? Doesn't do anything else at all.

[Stephen Louis Kerr]

06:48 PM on 10/14/2011

How about that new Galaxy S II? It kills the iPhone 4S in every single way. And it's half the price.

[stealur]

12:03 AM on 10/15/2011

Umm no. Bigger screen yes, worse resolution. It is also cheap, flimsy plastic. iPhone 4S > Galaxy S II

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2117129/apple-iphone-4s-vs-samsung-galaxy-ii-head-head-review

[DrReve]

08:01 AM on 10/16/2011

Keep on telling yourself that, you'll start to believe it. It's half the price for a reason you know.

[DRaymond]

06:04 PM on 10/14/2011

What I would be interested in is a breakdown by carrier.  I suspect that a larger pecentage of the Blackberry and Android 'defectors' are on Sprint.  Also I would like to see a comparison between those that said that they were going to buy a 4s and those actually there today.

The first-day folks are a distinct subset of apple buyers who are looking for a communal social validation of themselves through their purchase.

[CoralReef]

04:07 PM on 10/14/2011

Wonder how many of the people buying are part of the OWS protests???

And here I thought it was also an anti-consumerism movement..

Oh wait, most of those people don't see the connection b/w big evil corporations and buying their iPhone/Flat Screen TV/Playstation/Laptop/Video Equipment.

[LittleSanityLeft]

04:51 PM on 10/14/2011

"And here I thought it was also an anti-consu­merism movement.. "

What in the world made you think that?

[CoralReef]

04:10 PM on 10/17/2011

Adbusters kinda helped start this movement.... They are anticonsumerism. Its also moved into multiple avenues of protest: anti corporate greed, anti corporate profit, anti large government, anti bailouts.. List goes on and on.

In one pic on another site, one sign a girl had complained about having to pay back her student loans.. That i cannot get behind. You take out the loan, you need to pay it back!

There is an Occupy group out of Chapel Hill NC protesting at the Post Office. Yes the post office, guess they don't realize the PO is broke!

[stealur]

11:16 PM on 10/14/2011

Anti-consumerism? Oy...

[morphine507]

02:41 PM on 10/14/2011

Occupy wall street what?? the 99% love paying the 1%! yay! -_-

[2crudedudes]

02:29 PM on 10/14/2011

So most people "switching" are already Apple customers. Big surprise there.

[Anarchy4hire]

02:19 PM on 10/14/2011

Hate to sound like a grump, but get a life, you're camping outside for a piece of useless technology...I'll never understand Apple fanatics, they remake the same thing with one or two new features..but you just can't resist shelling out $400 for it

[morphine507]

02:42 PM on 10/14/2011

Exactly, and the reason Apple does so many minor upgrades is because they know their customers are dumb enough to come rushing in to get it. Then they turn around and complain about low wages, why they can't afford to live. Hilarious!

[PhillyKing]

04:05 PM on 10/14/2011

bingo!!! been telling these fanbois for yrs... the reason android surpassed them was mainly because the other manufacturers try to pack in all the features while apple milks you for what they can... we all remember the 'updates' that broke the hacked originals that could cut/paste and mms... then the next gen comes out and, omg, it can cut/paste and mms...

[RobietheCat]

04:42 PM on 10/14/2011

That's cult-like behavior.

Sad, very sad.

[mairs]

01:19 PM on 10/14/2011

Poor Blackberry, having a several day outage right when the 4S comes out. Talk about driving it's customers into the arms of a new suitor.

[PhillyKing]

04:09 PM on 10/14/2011

they've been doing that for quite some time now even without the outage... while everyone was 'innovating', BB was stuck in their old ways... when everyone was using active-sync to simplify email integration, BB still required BES for proper control.. while everyone was making their phones more consumer friendly, BB still needed a tech to figure out... I sigh whenever i go to a customer site and they hand me a BB to configure, cause it's just so much easier on an Android, ios or Wp7 phone...

[stealur]

11:15 PM on 10/14/2011

I have both a BB and a iPhone 3GS, I don't get the BB users at all. If my office didn't supply me with it, I'd never use it. Horrible horrible phone.

[brandon20678]

01:01 PM on 10/14/2011

People who only buy the iPhone to look cool. I wanted to buy one but after doing the make the phone with plan will cost me around 3,000 for two years. ( excluding Taxes, FCC Fees.etc)

[NSbenjamins]

01:37 PM on 10/14/2011

an Android phone that looks like crap will cost you 2800 for two years.

[No Yards]

01:43 PM on 10/14/2011

I have a Nexus S, total cost for phone, unlimted calling, text, and data, for 2 years, including tax = $957. And since I am not on a contract, if a better deal comes along before 2 years I can switch and save even more money.

[woody7]

01:44 PM on 10/14/2011

Not all 'droids" look like crap.....................IYHO

[imonlyhereforthelaughs]

02:56 PM on 10/14/2011

I love how cool they look holding an iPhone with a shattered glass. Never see a Droid with shattered glass, but 3 people in my office have derelict-looking iPhones.

[PhillyKing]

04:14 PM on 10/14/2011

you know... i was wondering why that is... i've yet to see an Android with cracked glass... there must be some cause a lot of them use the same parts as the iphone, but yet i only see the broken iphones... weird.