You told us: These two issues would make you leave your current phone brand

Consumers have their favorite brands, be it cereal, cars, or clothing. But it’s likely that you have a particular smartphone brand you always go back to, too. But what would it take for you to reassess this?

In a recent poll, we asked readers to weigh in on what it would take for them to leave their current smartphone brand for another company’s products. Are you swayed by price, customer service, or something else? Here’s how you voted.

What would it take for you to leave your current smartphone brand?

Smartphone brand poll results

We received nearly 5,000 votes on this poll, but two specific choices account for more than 50% of the quota. According to readers “poor, buggy software” would be the primary reason they’d switch to another smartphone brand. This answer received more than a quarter (25.4%) of the total vote. Just behind it, with 24.1% of reader’s clicks, is the implementation of “a major price hike.”

Keeping the focus on software, 15.9% of readers would reconsider their current smartphone brand if “slow software updates” became an issue. “Build quality issues” would be a reason to switch for 12.2% of respondents.

Surprisingly, a “lack of innovative features” with 12% of the vote, only ranks as the fifth most critical factor for readers switching smartphone brands. This suggests firms not innovating but nailing the basics are more likely to keep their consumers happy.

Read more: The best Android smartphones you can buy right now

Finally, the least critical factor according to readers is a “drop in customer service quality.” Understandably, this isn’t a major concern when devices are in working order, but becomes an issue when claiming on a warranty or paying for repairs is required. Only 3.2% of readers see this choice as worthy of their vote.

We also asked users for other factors they would consider to switch to another smartphone brand. Several readers tell us that they aren’t loyal to a specific brand but rather choose new devices based on several other factors. See some of the choice comments below.

Your comments

• Evie: I’m really curious about how many android users are loyal to one brand anyway?
• Chrome: Well, I’m a fan of LG phones so…
• Joe Black: I do not care for any brand. I would simply switch if I find anything that would suit me better.
• fatspirit: I’d leave my current phone for any well-known branded phone with balanced features even with non-top specs but with <=6″ screen.
• Aris Routis: Dropping things like the S-Pen, Dex, One UI, Knox, quality service, quality build. In short what makes Samsung, well, Samsung. I would imagine, same goes for all brands.
• AndrewM: I will leave my S20 for any phone that’s 6.1″ or smaller in size, has expandable storage, and possibly a headphone jack.
• Austin: I’ve been pretty loyal to LG over the last few years. Was sad to see that they were forced to shutdown their mobile device business. It’s unfortunate when truly innovative features just become niche.
• Ali Marwan: Nothing, I’d gladly leave OnePlus.
• Wongwatt: I don’t have a “brand,” I just choose the phone I like. Currently, I have a ZenFone 8 because I fancied a smaller device with light Android and loads of power.
• Daddy Geek: My current phone will be the last item I ever buy from realme. Their software support is absolutely disgraceful. They seem happy to release a new device every week, but they simply don’t have the numbers or talent in their development team to provide updates to existing customers. Add in a copy and paste stock reply support team and you have the worst experience I’ve ever had from a vendor.
• Chandler Burns: Software support as well as the actual quality of said software has become extremely important to me, which is why I currently rock a Google Pixel. The new Sony Xperia devices for this year (Xperia 1 III/5 III) look absolutely stellar and have the closest to a perfect hardware set that I’ve seen this year, but their software support is absolutely horrendous for the prices they’re charging. If they guaranteed the same kind of software support Google, Samsung, and others are offering for their devices, then I’d have a good reason to switch. However, the Pixel 6/6 Pro are shaping up to be something special, so we’ll see what happens.
• Harry: Definitely moving away from HUAWEI due to lack of Google apps. I wouldn’t want to sideload them.
• EasyCare: Long software updates are getting more important to me. Many phones can actually last longer than they’re supposed to. My capable Galaxy A50 is almost 2 yrs old but won’t be getting the next Android 12. Samsung and Pixel are still among the best at this, but sadly still not better than iPhone.
• DBS: The continuous increase in size of the phones and dropping of essential features – like expandable storage and a headphone jack – is what has guaranteed that, if I change from my current phone, I will not be buying Samsung again.

That’s it for this poll. Thanks for your votes and comments. If you have any additional thoughts about brand loyalty, the checklist you use before buying a phone, or the results of this poll, be sure to drop them down below.