Apple’s iPhone losing edge in Asia: survey

Nearly one in five Asians who were early iPhone buyers said the phone has failed to meet their expectations.

But at the same time, 28 per cent of buyers said the new iPhone 5 has surpassed their expectations.

These are among some of the findings by independent research company Blackbox Research in Singapore and AIP in Japan, which surveyed 12,000 adults across 12 Asian countries last month.

Blackbox Managing Director, David Black, said, "Apple has definitely lost a little of its gloss and it will be interesting to see how they respond in what is now an increasingly competitive category. Remember what happened to Nokia when everyone thought they were unstoppable. "

The survey also found that 39 per cent of Asians feel that Apple is paling in comparison to other brands in the smartphone category.

When surveyed on the next brand of phone they would buy, respondents were evenly split between Apple and Samsung, the former garnering 37 per cent and the latter, 35 per cent. 28 per cent opted for other brands.

Black added, "The survey results really demonstrate why both Apple and Samsung have thrown so much into their legal and PR battles this year. The smartphone battle in Asia is now incredibly fierce with both brands winning battlegrounds in different parts of Asia and running neck to neck in others."

Here in Asia, Black said the iPhone seems to be a more popular choice for Japanese and Thai consumers, while South Koreans, Malaysians and Indians were more keen on a new Samsung handset.

Consumers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines were far more divided with solid support for both major brands.

Just on Thursday, another research firm Strategy Analytics reported that Samsung's Galaxy S3 became the world's best-selling smartphone model last quarter, pushing aside the iPhone, which has dominated the chart for more than two years.

It estimated Samsung sold 18 million S3 models in the third quarter, compared with iPhone 4S sales of 16.2 million.

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