Our survey found one in five iPhone users intend to buy the iPhone 5 – even though they haven’t seen it yet. Is this blind devotion wise? Or are we being brainwashed by brilliant marketing and Apple’s ‘cool’ factor?
It’s almost that time of year again, excitement is building, shops are laying on extra staff to deal with the rush, everyone’s saving their pennies…
No I’m not following the high street example of starting Christmas in September, I’m talking about a day even more important to some – the iPhone 5 launch day.
Don’t try before you buy
As has now become custom for the last few years, we are hearing more and more rumours about the next iteration of the iPhone and what it will bring.
Will it have a bigger screen, will it be cheaper, will there be two different versions this year? But, regardless of what features it has, the iPhone 5 is almost guaranteed to be a big seller.
In a survey of Which? Members we found that only 3% intended to buy the iPhone 5, but when we broke the figures down into iPhone users, that number grew to 20%. That means one in five iPhone users are intending to upgrade to the latest version – and that’s before they even see the specs, what it looks like, or even know what it will cost.
With competing devices getting better and better and coming out all the time, this seemingly blind devotion to Apple makes me wonder if it’s the features of the iPhone that make it so popular – or simply the marketing?
iPhone 4 wasn’t perfect
The iPhone 4 suffered from a lack of reception when you held it in a natural way – which is a pretty big flaw for a mobile phone in my mind – yet it still sold by the bucketloads.
Some argue that Apple’s ‘it just works’ philosophy coupled with their design ethos is what keeps customers coming back – but having to wrap your mobile phone in a rubber case to get it to make calls pretty much negates both arguments.
For me – a bit like Christmas – the iPhone launch day is one of those times where the hype has outgrown the event.
Are you one of the people who is willing to buy the next iPhone before you even know what it will bring? Is it the iPhone’s famous user interface that keeps you coming back, or is it just Apple’s cool factor?