Users flee from Apple — why iPhone is no longer a market favorite

The owners of Apple smartphones are increasingly refusing to upgrade in favor of other brands. According to the new research, loyalty to the iPhone has fallen to the lowest level in recent years.

Focus writes about what's wrong with the world's most popular phones.

Why do users refuse to update their Apple smartphone models?

Since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007, Apple has had a stable base of loyal customers. The highest level of loyalty was recorded in 2023, when 94% of iPhone users chose the next model of the same brand. However, in 2024, this figure dropped to 89% and did not recover in 2025.

In parallel, Samsung's statistics show the opposite trend: Galaxy user loyalty increased from 68% in 2021 to 76% in 2025, despite a short-term decline in 2024. It indicates growing trust in the Android competitor amid frustration with Apple's policies.

Additionally, Counterpoint Research data for the first quarter of 2025 shows a decline in sales of Apple's flagships in the United States market. The situation was partly saved by the low-cost iPhone 16e, released in February, and the weak start of the new Galaxy S25 models.

Why has AI become a problem for Apple?

The main reason for the loss of trust was AI — or rather, Apple's attempt to catch up with competitors. At the end of 2024, the company unveiled Apple Intelligence with the iOS 18.1 update, and in the spring of 2025, the new version of the system. However, users were dissatisfied: features such as image analysis or ChatGPT support were unstable, and the promised innovations were delayed.

In particular, the proprietary version of the improved Siri 2.0 assistant was postponed indefinitely, possibly until 2026. Because of this, Apple even had to remove one of its commercials. All of this led to significant disappointment among users, as the advert promised much more.

Another challenge is regional restrictions. Apple Intelligence is currently available only in the United States and the UK. In the countries of the European Union, which have strict AI regulations, the system can only be installed on Macs by changing the language and region, but not on iPhones. This further aggravated the situation on the market.

Against the backdrop of Apple's failures, Galaxy AI, which Samsung unveiled in September 2024, was greeted much more warmly. Probably, Apple rushed the release in an attempt to keep up, but did not bring the product to completion, which cost it reputational losses.

As hardware innovation has reached its physical limits, AI has become the main source of innovation in smartphones. New features are no longer coming from camera or processor improvements, but rather from software. But this area requires high quality, and any failures immediately alienate the audience.

Even Samsung has been criticised — the Galaxy S25 series was accused of imposing unnecessary AI capabilities. All of this suggests that users have become more demanding to the quality of technologies, especially in the field of AI.

As a reminder, at the end of March, Apple quietly removed the "available now" label from the Apple Intelligence page after the National Advertising Standards Authority intervened. The regulator urged the company to either correct or completely abandon potentially misleading advertising.

We also wrote that Apple has been the subject of a lawsuit in federal court due to the delay in the launch of Apple Intelligence. The plaintiffs believe that the company misled consumers by advertising features that are not yet available.