54% of Future Smartphone Buyers Say They’ll Buy iPhone 4S

A new survey shows that 54% of people who are planning on buying a smartphone in the next three months plan to buy an iPhone.

ChangeWave Research, in a new survey of North American consumers, has found that a significant number of people are looking at Apple and Samsung for their next smartphone. Both companies have an "explosive momentum" behind them.

The survey found that of the people who are planning on buying a smartphone in the next 90 days, 54% of them plan on buying an iPhone 4S. ChangeWave Research goes on to say that Apple hasn't been so dominant in the past, with planned buying decreasing significantly in the two months after the release of a new iPhone.

As you can see, the percentage of buyers who plan on getting an iPhone increases dramatically after a new one is introduced by Apple. However, after that initial surge, that interest drops significantly, about two to three months after the release. This held true for the period following the introduction of the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4. However, even though planned buying has dropped following the release of the iPhone 4S, there's still a significant percentage who are still planning on buying an iPhone.

One potential reason that the percentage of planned buyers is higher could be that this is the first time that Sprint is able to offer an iPhone. AT&T is also offering the iPhone 3GS for free with a 2-year contract. MacRumors offers some more insight into ChangeWave's survey:

ChangeWave's sample base focuses on professionals and early-adopter consumers, somewhat skewing its data toward higher-end users likely to have greater awareness of the market. But the firm's long history of consistent data gathering offers a look at patterns measured from this pool of users that frequently serves to set trends for the rest of the market.

Still, the fact remains that Apple is dominating right now. Samsung, whose share of planned buyers has doubled, still only has 13% in comparison to Apple's 54%, so while Samsung's doing well, the fight's clearly not over. Of course, Apple's extraordinary customer satisfaction rates has a lot to do with that.

[source ChangeWave Research, MacRumors]