Apple iPhone gains market share in Switzerland

Apple cell phones gain market share in Switzerland Keystone-SDA

Apple's iPhones have gained further market share in Switzerland. Around half of all smartphone owners used a model from the US tech giant last year.

Specifically, 49.4% of respondents used an iPhone in 2024, according to a representative survey of over 2,000 people from all regions of Switzerland conducted by the internet comparison service Comparis and published on Tuesday. In 2020, Apple’s market share in this country was only 44.3%.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

“Apple has been able to expand its market share worldwide since 2020. This is primarily due to strong customer loyalty,” said Comparis digital expert Jean-Claude Frick according to the press release. In addition, the introduction of 5G and the USB-C port has made the platform more competitive. “The appeal of the cult Apple brand remains unbroken among young people,” said Frick.

Android phones on the decline

In contrast, the share of smartphones with the Android operating system continued to shrink. The second-largest provider behind Apple was Samsung by a wide margin with a market share of just under 35%. The Chinese manufacturer Huawei, once in third place, was the biggest loser, falling from 10.9% in 2020 to 2.6% in 2024.

“The US ban on using Western technology pulled the rug out from under Huawei’s feet and made it impossible for the Chinese to compete with Samsung in the Android camp. The lack of important Google services makes it difficult to use well-known apps on Huawei smartphones and has made the devices unattractive for years,” says Frick.

None of the other Android smartphone manufacturers, such as Xiaomi, Oppo or Google, achieved a market share of more than 4%.

Loyal users

According to the survey, previous use plays a major role in the choice of the next smartphone. Of current Apple users, 91.8% wanted to buy an iPhone again, Comparis wrote.

Among Android users, 89.6% also planned to choose an Android device again. “Apple led the way, Samsung and Google are following suit: More and more manufacturers are relying on a closed ecosystem of accessories, which makes it difficult for customers to switch mobile phone manufacturers,” said Comparis expert Frick.

At the same time, the desire to buy a new mobile phone is waning. In 2024, only 38.4% planned to buy one, compared to 46.9% four years earlier. Conversely, 61.6% did not want to buy a new device last year. This is a significant increase compared to 2020, when 53.1% did not want to buy a new cell phone.

“Rising prices and longer update promises from manufacturers mean that smartphones are increasingly remaining in long-term use,” noted Comparis. While 22% had used their device for at least three years in 2020, this figure had risen to 31.3% by 2024.

Adapted from German by DeepL/jdp

How we work

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [e-mail].