Nearly 59% Of People Said This Company Makes The Best Smartphones
There is no denying the massive impact smartphones have had on modern society. Evolving over the past two decades, these gadgets have become, perhaps, the most important communication tool ever produced. It's almost ironic to think about how the original cell phone — originally envisioned as a better alternative to the fixed landline telephone — has evolved to become the smartphone we're so familiar with today.
Apart from having the ability to make and receive calls, the modern smartphone now lets you access literally anything under the sun — well, almost. From making video calls to your loved ones and doubling up as a camera to letting you listen to the music of your choice, ordering food, hailing a cab, and even helping you find a date, smartphones are the modern-day equivalent of the mythical Excalibur, giving those wielding them seemingly limitless power.
The monumental changes to the capabilities of the cell phone over the past few years had a lot to do with the massive improvements to wireless communications standards. In conjunction with these, the past decade saw generational improvements to the software, making these devices intuitive and easy to use for even the most entry-level consumers. However, despite their apparent ubiquity, there are only a handful of companies that have tasted success in designing, manufacturing, and selling feature-packed, high-quality smartphones.
Where you live has a huge bearing on your favorite smartphone brand
Depending on which part of the world you focus on, people seem to prefer some smartphone brands over others. In Asia, for example, consumers seem to love their Samsung and Xiaomi models a lot. The past few years have also witnessed a massive rise in the popularity of Chinese smartphone brands like Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus (via Stat Counter). These brands are particularly known for their highly capable smartphones that not only offer great performance but do so at a very economical cost to buyers. Perhaps the greatest gift these brands have given consumers is enabling people with lower budgets to experience flagship-grade features without having to pay a premium.
While Chinese smartphone brands are yet to make a sizable impact in more developed consumer markets like Europe and North America, they are gradually making their impact felt. To get a better understanding of what consumers in the U.S. think of modern-day smartphone brands, we asked them about their favorite brands. The results, while not surprising, do give you an idea of the state of the market while also showing how different the U.S smartphone space is from that of the rest of the world.
Americans' undying love for Apple
We asked 631 Americans to pick their favorite smartphone brand and four took the top slots: Apple, Google, Samsung, and OnePlus. The results of the poll did not come as a surprise because the vast majority of the 631 people voted for Apple as the maker of the best smartphones on the market. A massive 58.95% of the people who participated in the poll preferred Apple-made iPhones to any other smartphone brand. Thanks to its lineup of excellent mid-range A series devices and capable flagship phones from the Galaxy S22 lineup, Samsung managed to garner a respectable 31.06% of the votes to end up in the second spot. The company is the only brand on the list that makes foldable smartphones, which is an emerging category in itself.
Despite being infamous for some notable software-related bugs, a sizable percentage of Americans still prefer Google-made devices like the Pixel 5 and the newer Pixel 6 series phones. Among those polled, 8.24% thought Googe makes the best smartphones. It would be interesting to see if Google raises the bar if and when it launches the much-rumored foldable smartphone later this year. The only Chinese smartphone brand on this list is OnePlus, which is a tad surprising, though it managed to garner just 1.74% of the votes. From the results, it's evident that OnePlus — despite having a presence in the U.S. for a long time now — is yet to make a sizable impact on the psyche of the average American consumer. However, at the recent launch of the OnePlus 10T, the company did attempt to show that it is in the U.S. for the long term.