South Korean under-30s tend to buy Android first, then switch to iPhone

New research claims that while 85% of South Koreans aged under 30 will have first bought an Android phone, more than half then switch to Apple's iPhone.

The iPhone is already holding up well against Android in the declining US smartphone market, and it's even expanding more than rivals in China. Now new figures from Counterpoint Research show that the number of switchers to iPhone is high even in South Korea, home of Apple's largest rival, Samsung.

First-ever smartphone versus current smartphone for South Korean under-30s. Source: Counterpoint

While Counterpoint doesn't give precise figures, it says that from its survey, about 85% of South Korean smartphone users younger than 30, had an Android as their first phone. But now in that same survey, 55% were using iPhones.

"The reason why Android phones account for a very high proportion of first-time smartphone purchases in South Korea," write Counterpoint analysts in a statement, "is that most users in that age group, particularly adolescence, give priority to the preference of those with real purchasing power, such as parents, when buying their first smartphone."

Asked about their decision to switch, 32% cited performance, and 31% gave "brand image" as their priority.

Plus among those surveyed who said an iPhone was their first-ever phone, 92% of them said they still used Apple. Some 76% of those said they would not switch to Android, with 52% giving design as the reason, and 29% saying performance.

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However, of users who had switched from iPhone to Android, over half said that it was because of easy-to-use features such as Samsung Pay, and Android's user interface. These users were reportedly similar in their certainty that they would not switch back.

7 Comments

waveparticle 4 Years · 1497 comments

About 1 year ago

Androids allow user to install this or that freely. But unless you want to pursue a computer science career, why waste your time on this? I have a coworker years ago. He said he install custom PC desktops at home. He had several of them running. I joked (maybe half truth) that he needs to spend lots of money on electricity.

termsofuse 3 Years · 32 comments

About 1 year ago

Seems like more than half of the smart phones used on Korean TV shows are iPhones.

1 Like · 0 Dislikes

tht 24 Years · 5794 comments

About 1 year ago

Xed said:

We all make mistakes when we're young.

Give them a little more credit:
"The reason why Android phones account for a very high proportion of first-time smartphone purchases in South Korea," write Counterpoint analysts
in a statement
, "is that most users in that age group, particularly adolescence, give priority to the preference of those with real purchasing power, such as parents, when buying their first smartphone."

Parents are cheapskates. Basically normal parent behavior. Probably the right behavior depending on how young they are. 12yo? Yeah, you are getting at best a 5yo iPhone or a really cheap new phone. 16yo? Go get a job and buy that $800 phone yourself.

5 Likes · 0 Dislikes

danox 12 Years · 3627 comments

About 1 year ago

tht said:

Xed said:

We all make mistakes when we're young.

Give them a little more credit: "The reason why Android phones account for a very high proportion of first-time smartphone purchases in South Korea," write Counterpoint analysts in a statement, "is that most users in that age group, particularly adolescence, give priority to the preference of those with real purchasing power, such as parents, when buying their first smartphone."

Parents are cheapskates. Basically normal parent behavior. Probably the right behavior depending on how young they are. 12yo? Yeah, you are getting at best a 5yo iPhone or a really cheap new phone. 16yo? Go get a job and buy that $800 phone yourself.

Or Apple is starting to chew away at the South Korean market like they have done with the Japanese and Chinese market, the video/audio tools available on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac ecosystems are way beyond those that are available on the Android system, that and faster, better hardware (video performance is far superior) is slowly grinding away at the Android market, Apple won’t take over the South Korean market, but they will carve out a healthy piece of the market and with the intro of the Apple Vision Pro next year, all of those South Korean techie fashion conscious young people will know what time it is and that time isn’t Android time.