It seems that Android smartphone owners prefer the iPhone 6s rather than the iPhone 7 when it comes to crossing over to the iOS platform.
The iPhone has already been established as the most favored smartphone in the 2016 holiday season, with the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus being the favorites.
Now according to a study conducted by the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners or CIRP, 29 percent of Android users who switched over to iPhone bought the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus over Apple's latest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models.
In the quarterly report released by the CIRP on Jan. 19, sales figures are consistent when it came to Android users switching over to the iOS platform.
In 2015, 14 percent of Android users bought an iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. In 2016, the figure went up by 1 percent, as only 15 percent of Android users chose the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to shift to the iOS platform.
The report also says that the latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are more of a hit with the public compared with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, when comparing their popularity at the time of launch.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus together garnered a total of 72 percent of the total iPhone sales in 2016, whereas the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus only accumulated a total of 68 percent of the total iPhone sales in 2015.
A sharp 4 percent increase in sales figures within a year says a lot when it comes to popularity and preference of the public.
"In the first full quarter of availability, the flagship iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models accounted for a slightly higher percentage of iPhone sales than the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus did last year," said CIRP cofounder Josh Lowitz.
In 2016, 40 percent of iPhone sales were from the iPhone 7, and its larger, more expensive version iPhone 7 Plus garnered 32 percent of the total iPhone sales in the same year.
iPhone 6s/ iPhone 6s Plus Over iPhone 7/ iPhone 7 Plus?
The Chicago-based CIRP chose a sample of 500 Apple customers for the survey. According to the research, during the 2016 holiday season, Android users converting to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus nearly doubled when compared with those shifting to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Given that the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the latest smartphones from Apple, it is surprising to see people choose their predecessors over the latest variants.
In the December 2016 quarter, only 15 percent of Android users switched over to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus whereas in the December 2015 quarter, 29 percent of Android users switched over to the iOS platform with the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.
It is likely that the exclusion of the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus worked as a deal breaker for most Android users switching over to iPhones.
