iPhone loyalty just hit a new high with only 3.6% of iOS users thinking of switching — but here's why I'm never ditching Android

A tale of two mobile OSes

25 Apr 2026, 11:30 by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/david-nield · TechRadar

Features By David Nield published 25 April 2026

Which would you choose? (Image credit: Future)

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Fresh survey data from phone trade-in service SellCell (via MacRumors) suggests that iOS loyalty has hit a new high: 96.4% of iPhone owners are likely to stick with Apple handsets when they next upgrade, based on responses from over 5,000 people in the US.

That's up from 91.9% in 2021, and means that out of every 100 iPhone users, only 3 or 4 are considering what life might be like with an Android device. It seems iOS is much loved by its users — or at least they don't want the hassle of trying to extract themselves and their messages from iMessage.

The Android figure is higher than ever too, by the way, though it's lower than Apple: 86.4% of Android users say they're likely to go with Android again when it's time to upgrade. By brand, it's 90.1% for Samsung and 86.8% for Google.

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Despite the lure of the best iPhones, and the increasing loyalty to the brand of iPhone users, I'm not thinking of moving away from Android — and I'll explain why below.

For context, I do own an iPhone too — it's part of the tech journalist job, having to write about both mobile platforms — but a Google Pixel is the phone I use day-to-day as my main device, while the Apple phone sits in a drawer until I specifically need it.

Google apps work better

Per-label notifications in Gmail for Android (Image credit: Future)

For me, apps like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs, and Gemini are a long way ahead of their Apple Mail, Apple Maps, Apple Pages, and Siri counterparts — so it makes sense to choose a phone where these apps are most useful and most at home.

Yes, just about every Google app is available for iOS, but Apple doesn't give them the same freedom as they have on Android. You can't set Gemini as your default AI assistant on an iPhone, for example, or get notifications per label in Gmail like you can on Android.

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