This is what happens when you don’t release a new phone in nearly a year.
Consumers now think iPad is better value than iPhone, and they are more likely to recommend it to friends than the phone, according to new data from YouGov’s BrandIndex…
Apple value scores
Apple recommendation scores
Says BrandIndex, which conducts interviews from its 2.5 million worldwide consumer pool:
“This overtaking of the iPhone by the iPad is a reversal of the usual patterns which have seen the phone traditionally well ahead of its tablet counterpart…
“This marks not only a shift in comparison to the iPhone but also the culmination of an incredible hike in perceptions for the iPad’s value over the past few months…”
This should not come as a surprise. Not only is iPhone 4s almost a year old, while rivals like Samsung have since launched sparkly new handsets; many consumers are fully aware that a new iPhone is due to be announced in September.
That would, of course, render iPhone 4s a poor-value buy at this moment – no wonder fewer people would recommend the phone to friends. Apple is readying to announce the new handset just in time to arrest this perception decline.
This does not detract from the growing high-value perception attached to the tablet. But it does suggest quieter rumors of imminent new iPads have not dented perception of current iPads as much as in the parallel, handset category.