Tim Cook told analysts Tuesday that the current lineup of iPhones “experienced the highest Android switcher rate” in three years.
To put that claim to the test, the folks at Consumer Intelligence Research Partners took a look at their data.
In the U.S. market, which is what CIRP tracks, they see more and more iPhone customers coming back to Apple for the latest model.
But they don’t see a big change in the rate of Android switching.
“Over time, the share of iPhone buyers that come from the Android operating system has varied seasonally, yet remained relatively consistent,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP Partner and Co-Founder.
But remember, these are U.S. numbers.
“It appears,” concludes CIRP’s Mike Levin, “that Apple enjoyed a much higher rate of Android switching outside the U.S. than in the more mature U.S. market.”
That seems reasonable. And it jibes with the news coming of out China, where Canalys reports that Apple overtook Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei last quarter to take the top spot in smartphone sales.
Links:
- CIRP: Android Owners Are Steady Share of U.S. iPhone Buyers
- Canalys: Apple takes top spot in China for first time in smart phones
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple AAPL coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
