Smartphone Satisfaction on the Rise, Apple in the Lead

J.D. Power and Associates this week released its first U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study for 2013, alongside its Traditional Mobile Phone Satisfaction Study, which found an increase in overall satisfaction from smartphone customers. This increase goes hand in hand with the improved styling, features, usability and software seen over the last year as the smartphone market became increasingly competitive.

The studies aim to measure satisfaction among traditional mobile phone and smartphone users that have owned their current device for less than a year. Satisfaction is measured by several key factors which for smartphones are, in order of importance, performance as identified by 33 percent of respondents; physical design, 23 percent; features, 22 percent; and ease of operation, 22 percent.

The satisfaction of smartphone customers as identified in this year's survey is 796 on a 1,000-point scale, up 22 points from 2012. The category that saw the most improvement was performance, which increased 26 points, attributed to operating system reliability, processing speed and video/camera picture quality all improving significantly.

"As the capabilities of wireless phones and their applications continue to expand, and as customers grow more reliant on their device, handset manufacturers have an opportunity to further shape the customer experience and impact satisfaction with better integration of services and more communication options, such as video chat," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of telecommunications services at J.D. Power and Associates, in a statement. "It is important, however, that manufacturers meet the expectations of those customers who take advantage of such offers by ensuring the features are intuitive and, ultimately, rewarding to them."

Apple ranked highest in satisfaction among smartphone manufacturers for the ninth consecutive study, achieving a score of 855, performing particularly well in physical design and ease of operation. With the iPhone 5 selling in such high quantities, though, it's obvious that the company is doing something right.

However, Samsung ranking third with a score of 793, just behind Nokia at 795, it's evident that there's not always a correlation between satisfaction and sales as the Galaxy S III is undoubtedly outselling the Lumia 920.