US customer satisfaction led by Apple, Samsung close second

J.D. Powers ran a customer satisfaction study in the US and results revealed interesting changes since the previous edition from 2011. Apple topped the charts across the board, beating Samsung on all major US carriers.

That said, Samsung stayed close behind Apple and above average for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. HTC managed to beat the average only on Verizon, but lost to BlackBerry on AT&T. Motorola was disappointingly low, at the bottom on two out of four carriers. LG and Nokia didn't do too hot either.

Unfortunately, there's no breakdown by device - it's probably the iPhone 5s driving Apple customers' satisfaction, but where does Samsung's multitude of Galaxy phones stand?

AT&T scored the highest in customer satisfaction (844/1000), while its main rival Verizon came in forth (829/1000) with Sprint (839/1000) and T-Mobile (835/1000) slotting in between.

Features were still the most important factor for picking a device, but it was well down from what it was before – 35% now, 57% then. However, those that picked a phone for its features were more satisfied (860/1000) than those who picked it for its price (808/1000).Price became an increasingly important factor of why a customer bought their device. 21% of surveyed users claimed price was the main reason for picking the device they did, up from 13% in 2011. Surprisingly, however, the average purchase price went up to $202 from $174 over the last three years. Fewer people received a discount too, 52% down from 60%.

As for what features the users actually want, voice control and built-in sensors (temperature, noise and mood) both scored just over a third. Facial recognition and biometric security (i.e. a fingerprint sensor) claimed the remaining piece of the pie.