Final Draft

Rachel Meredith

4/13/15

The Preference of IPhones and Androids Depending On Age

Abstract

I have had an IPhone and an Android and I can’t seem to make up my mind on which one I like more than the other.  Recently I went to an AT&T store to get a new phone and I was stuck on the decision I had to make of getting either an IPhone or an Android.  Both phones have up-to-date technology and do a lot of the same things.  The looks of the phone are a little different.  When you unlock the phone and begin to play around, the phones become much more different.  When a lady met with me for some assistance, she asked me if I preferred android or apple. She was taken back with amazement when I responded with an uncertain answer.  She said that most people she meets with know if they prefer IPhones or Androids.  This began to make me question the ratio of people’s preferences to IPhones and Androids.  I asked different people in three different age groups if they preferred IPhones or Androids.  I wanted to create a study that most people never really thought of.  The ratio of the preference of IPhones to Androids is close the even.  So maybe by looking at it in a different point of view, we might get different results.  By asking several people some questions about their preference of iPhones to androids, it that might bring up some shocking results. 

Introduction

IPhone and Android cell phones have created a big debate about which phone is a better phone.  Everyone has a cell phone now a days and almost all of those people who have cell phone have a smart phone like an IPhone or an Android. A recent report from digital analytics firm comScore reveals that of the 184 million Americans owning a smartphone, more than 4 in 10 use an iPhone.  During the three months ending January 2015, Apple sat atop the smartphone original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hill with 41.3 percent of the U.S. market, which is down 0.6 percentage points from its 41.9 percent mark during the three months ending October 2014.  Related: Android claims 81.5% of the global smartphone OS market in 2014, iOS dips to 14.8% (Jason Hahn).  Both types of phones are always coming out with new models and new creative assets that come on the phone.  Therefore, this makes it hard for surveyors to accurately make percentages that really show who prefer what kind of phone.  The studies are very different every year because of the new phones that come out.  However, there is just something about each phone that people like more than the other.  As we all know, normally people that are over 50 didn’t grow up with a lot of technology until they got much older.  Unlike the older people, under people that are younger than 30 have grown up with technology and is more used to the idea of it.  It seems as if older people should like IPhones better because IPhones are known to be more people friendly.  Androids, on the other hand, they have more options and settings.  You can do more with an android people it is so much more customable.  My hypothesis is that older people like IPhones better than they like androids and the younger people would prefer Androids better than they would like IPhone.

Method

I concluded with my hypothesis because of my knowledge that I know about the phones and the ability of people’s technology uses.  I made a survey that was conducted to find an end result of the fact that age does make a difference in the preference of the Androids and the IPhones.  By using my resources, the younger people from the University of Louisville were a couple of questions to complete my survey.  15 people were asked if they were under the age of 30 and if they preferred iPhone or androids better.  Then 15 people were asked if they are between the ages of 30 and 50 and if they preferred IPhone or Android.  Using resources again, the older people were found in businesses and churches.  Lastly, people that are over 50 were asked if they preferred androids or iPhone better.  Two people from every age group were asked another question that would provide this survey more of in-depth answer. The question was, “Why do you prefer an IPhone over and Android or vise-versa?”  This question would prove the reasoning behind my hypothesis.

Results

11 out of 15 people that were under the age of 30 said that they prefer iPhones over Androids.  I asked two people why they liked IPhone better and one person said because all of their friends have an iPhone.  The other person said that they liked the use of their iTunes.  Then I asked people that were between 30 and 50 and it was pretty even.  7 out of 15 people liked IPhone better.  I asked two people why and one people said that they like the looks of an iPhone better and the other person said that iPhone has more aps.  Last I asked people that were older than 50 and 2 out of 15 people like IPhone better.  I asked two people why they liked Androids better and one person said that because of the business they were in, it was easier to multi-task with an Android.  The other person said that they think that Androids have to best technology and that they last longer.

Figure 1: A bar graph that shows that the older a person is, the more that older person prefers an Android.  The younger a person is, the more that younger person prefers IPhones.

Discussion

I made this survey searching that older people would prefer IPhone more than Androids because of their age and generation.  The results from this survey were shocking and not at all what I expected.  I figured that younger people would like Androids better because you can do more with them, they are more customable and the use of multi-tasking is easier.  However, I found the complete opposite of my hypothesis.  I found that older people like androids more than IPhone and younger people like iPhone more than androids.  Although my research did not involve a lot of people and it can’t necessarily be used to determine who likes what more, I think that my research proves some good points of why people prefer what they do prefer.  It is also just one survey at this particular time. If this survey would be taken again next year, I’m sure that it would change.  It is interesting that this research was not as even as the results that were found on other websites.  There should be more surveys that pin point certain subjects of the situation in order to determine what phone would be more preferred by certain people.

References

Hahn, Jason. "Apple and Samsung Are the Most Valuable Global Brands of 2015." Digital Trends. N.p., 07 Mar. 2015. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.