How attached are you to that Android phone of yours? Research specialists Survata have been asking users about the upcoming iPhone 6 launch over the last couple of days, and found that a mere 5 percent of Android users were “very likely” to switch to iOS with the launch of the iPhone 6 on Tuesday. 12.4 percent said they were “somewhat likely” to jump from Google’s mobile operating system to Apple’s equivalent, so perhaps when we all finally get a look at the new handset, the exodus from Android will be a little larger. On the other hand, the new iPhone might be completely underwhelming and attract very few converts at all.
Surveys are the naked selfies of the intellectual. They reveal so much, yet the whole story seems rarely there. Some, indeed, reek of total fakery. However, I’ve been truly desperate to know whether the arrival of the iPhone 6 will cause a mass stampede away from Android. As if to satiate me on demand, a survey inserted itself into my e-mail and begged for attention. Its sponsors claimed to be “surprised by the utter lack of interest in Android owners switching over to the new iPhone.” This being a digital world, the level of utter surprise had a number. A mere 5 percent of Android users in this survey said they were “very likely” to switch to Apple’s new, purportedly bigger and more juicy phone. In times of heady excitement, naivete is my crutch. So I asked how many Android users said they were merely “likely” to switch to iPhone 6. It seems that this survey didn’t actually have a “likely” answer. However, 12.4 percent of Android users ticked the box marked “somewhat likely.” Might one conclude that 17.4 percent of Android users are some kind of likely to switch? None of these 17.4 percent of Android users have actually seen the iPhone 6 at all. So their responses might have as much meaning as the average Abba song.
