Bryan Smith·
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Apple, Samsung, and Nokia are among SA's favorite handsets, new study shows

The South African Customer Satisfaction Index has revealed that consumers are most satisfied with handsets produced by Apple, Samsung, and Nokia.

If you’ve ever wondered which brand of smartphone South Africans trust the most, here’s your answer – the South African Customer Satisfaction Index has revealed that consumers are highly satisfied with devices made by Apple, Samsung, and Nokia.
Read: iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2: Launch date and pricing confirmed for South Africa
The survey – which polled more than 1,700 handset owners – chose a total number of respondents in line with each manufacturer’s local market share. The survey offers an industry average indexability score of 78.2 – brands polled to be above that number are in favour, while those below are not.

The results

The top seven 2016 scores revealed that the top six manufacturers were:

  1. Apple, with a score of 83.5
  2. Samsung, with a score of 80.6
  3. Nokia, with a score of 79.5
  4. Huawei, with a score of 77.2
  5. Sony, with a score of 76.2
  6. BlackBerry, with a score of 71.4

Consulta – the administrator of the South African Customer Satisfaction Index – revealed some surprising metrics; Samsung has succeeded in doubling its market share since 2015’s poll, while Apple showed slower yet marked growth.
Huawei and Sony, both new entrants to the South African market, ranked near the industry par – scoring 77.2 and 76.2 respectively.
In unsurprising news, BlackBerry continued its freefall and showed a marked decline in consumer satisfaction – trailing the market leader, Apple, by around twelve points.
That places BlackBerry underneath the likes of Nokia, which no longer exists as an independent brand since its disastrous acquisition by Microsoft. However, the marque retains its larger market share thanks to the presence of legacy handsets that are still sold in the country.

See also

Consumer expectation

The survey further established that Apple consumers have the highest expectations of their mobile handset, while Samsung, Nokia, Sony, and Huawei consumers followed in close proximity.
Read: Beyond BlackBerry: Do Sony, LG, and HTC face extinction too?

Have your say!

What are your thoughts? What’s your preferred brand of handset? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA