Apple continues to benefit from the release of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as a new survey suggests a meaningful number of former Android users are making the switch. The survey also suggests good things for Apple’s ecosystem in general, including Apple Pay and the upcoming Apple Watch.
Lots of people coming to Apple’s ecosystem
Cowen sponsored the survey, which covered 3,000 consumers who either currently own an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus or are intending to buy one. It was conducted before the Apple Watch event on March 9. A thousand of the participants are in the U.S., a thousand are in China, 500 are in the U.K. and 500 are in Japan. As a result of the survey’s positive results, analyst Timothy Arcuri raised his price target from $115 to $135 per share and reiterated his Outperform rating.
The survey indicated that for 5% of current iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus owners, the phone was their first smartphone. It also showed that 16% of the participants were converts from an Android device. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus was popular with all age groups in the survey.
(All charts and graphs in this article are courtesy Cowen.)
The survey did find that the highest percentage of early adopters were in the youngest age group, however.
Good signs for Apple ecosystem
Cowen analysts also found a high percentage of smartphone users have other connected devices like a tablet or game console. The iPhone (including all models) had a 79% share of survey participants. Smartphone owners also showed high percentages of having other devices, which of course means good things for the Apple ecosystem as a whole.
Good news for Apple Pay, Apple Watch
The survey indicated that 58% of those who participated have used some type of mobile payment service, not including Apple Pay. In particular, mobile payment adoption is high in China with 21% of the monthly spend, followed by the U.S. at 20% and the U.K. at 14%.
Fifty-seven percent of survey participants used PayPal, and 42% have used some kind of mobile app. Google Wallet has a solid adoption rate of 31%.
The Cowen analysts also said the survey suggests smartwatches will not “aggressively” replace traditional and fashion watches. They say adoption will likely be gradual because of expectations like price, battery life and durability.
Shares of Apple began to recover from Friday’s flash crash today, climbing as much as 1.08% to $127.26 per share.
