Amid patent lawsuits and appeals, Apple has struck a symbolic blow against chief rival Samsung – this time outside the courtroom. Even with its home court advantage, Samsung fell behind the Cupertino technology powerhouse in a South Korean customer satisfaction survey.
Quality Insights polled 44,168 South Korean smartphone owners, asking questions about the device’s overall performance over the course of a year. Respondents were also asked to rate the device manufacturer’s customer service for that same year.
The results, according to Apple Insider, put Apple at the top of the list. Customers reported a 52 percent satisfaction rate with Apple, just slightly ahead of the hometown hero Samsung’s 50 percent. In third place was another Korean electronics giant, LG, with 46 percent customer satisfaction for its smartphones.
“For Apple, the news looks good across the board. Not only were respondents satisfied with the speed at which Apple turned around repair requests, but iPhone owners were also the respondents that were least likely to bring their devices in for a repair in the first place,” said MacLife.
This is far from the first time that Apple has found itself sitting comfortably at the top of a customer service report. J.D. Power and Associates, the U.S.-based worldwide market research firm, gave Apple its smartphone customer satisfaction award – nine times in a row. The iPhone ranked so high that the marketing firm was forced to readjust averages for the entire smartphone industry.
“The Cupertino company takes great pride in its customer satisfaction ratings,” wrote Apple Insider. “CEO Tim Cook will often point out how well Apple ranks in customer satisfaction, noting that that factor drives customer loyalty, repurchase rates, and commerce within the iOS ecosystem.”
The customer service praise from South Koreans comes at a time when Apple is locked in fierce patent lawsuits against Samsung in more than ten different countries. Last month in Japan, Apple and Samsung had one victory each. Tokyo courts refused an appeal from Apple that Samsung had infringed on a synchronization invention, upholding a previous decision in favor of Samsung. However, Samsung lost a separate claim regarding the “bounce back” function when users scroll to the end of an iPhone’s screen.
The battle continues.