MacRumors

The smartphone market is largely dominated by Android and iOS, dividing smartphone users into two camps: those who stick with the Android operating system and those who use Apple's iPhones.

Major players in the smartphone market like Apple, Google, and Samsung all aim to lure "switchers" with dedicated websites and tools for switching platforms, but new data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners [PDF] suggests getting loyal smartphone users to change operating systems is a tough task.

Over the course of the last two years, from 3Q 2013 to 2Q 2015, CIRP has learned that Android and Apple have both retained users at approximately the same rate, with Google having a slight edge. When choosing a new phone, 82 percent of Android users stuck with Android, and 78 percent of iOS users chose to continue using an iPhone.

The data also suggests that Apple users switched over to Android at a slightly higher rate. 20 percent of new Android users previously had an iPhone, while 16 percent of new iOS users previously had an Android device. Customers purchasing their first smartphone were more likely to choose Android devices, with 62 percent of first time buyers picking Android and 24 percent of picking iOS.

"The dynamic between Apple iOS and Google Android is not well-understood," said Josh Lowitz, Partner and Co-Founder of CIRP. "Even the basic loyalty rate, the measure of how each operating system retains its own users, is not widely known. Conventional wisdom says the Apple 'ecosystem' promotes loyalty, while Android readily gives up users to iOS. Our analysis has a more nuanced view on operating system selection, and indicates Android user loyalty has caught up and even exceeds that of iOS."

Among customers who switched to a new mobile carrier at the same time as switching smartphones, the numbers were in Android's favor. 79 percent of Android users stuck with Android, while only 51 percent of iPhone users who swapped carriers chose an iPhone.

According to CIRP, switching from Android to iOS is more common when customers switch to AT&T or Verizon, while switching from iOS to Android is associated with a switch to T-Mobile or Sprint. CIRP attributes the high number of iPhone to Android switchers to T-Mobile and Sprint's "aggressive contracts and pricing."

Apple often talks about the number of users switching from Android to iOS during its earnings calls and events, but Android vendors, like Google and Samsung, rarely mention the number of customers who switch from iOS to Android, so it often seems like Android customers are switching at a higher rate. CIRP's data, however, suggests the retainment rates and switching rates between iOS and Android are close, with customers largely remaining loyal to their platform of choice.

During the company's last earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was seeing its highest switcher rate from Android that it had "ever measured."

CIRP's data was gathered from quarterly surveys of 4,000 U.S. subjects that activated a mobile phone from July 2013 to July 2015.

Apple aims to take on Google Now with the addition of several new intuitive features on iOS 9 for iPhone and iPad, including Proactive Suggestions, which provides contextually-aware recommendations for music, email, reminders, calendar events and more based on apps that you frequently open and the time of the day.

With iOS 9 currently available in beta, ahead of a public release in September, several readers have shared their real-world experiences with Proactive Suggestions within the MacRumors discussion forums, providing a closer look at the new-and-improved assistant that will be available to all users next month.

Music and Maps

When you connect your iPhone to your car via Bluetooth, iOS 9 can automatically make suggestions for you based on your common tasks while driving. For example, if you often listen to music while driving, it is likely that playback controls or a suggested playlist will be displayed on the Lock screen.

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Rite Aid today announced that its 4,600 stores across the United States will begin accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet starting August 15, nearly one year after the drugstore chain and CVS infamously disabled support for the iPhone-based mobile payments service nationwide. Rite Aid will also support Google's forthcoming Android Pay service when available.

Rite Aid and CVS spurred a controversy last year after disabling Apple Pay and Google Wallet as payment methods last year, likely because both are members of the Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) consortium, which has its own mobile payments service called CurrentC. MCX launched in August 2012 with a three-year exclusivity period for all members, which ends this month.

“Increasingly, consumers are actively seeking out and incorporating mobile technology into many facets of their life, including their shopping and purchasing decisions,” said Ken Martindale, CEO of Rite Aid stores and president of Rite Aid Corporation. “By accepting mobile payments, we’re able to offer Rite Aid customers an easy and convenient checkout process, which we know is important to them. Investing in mobile technologies is just one piece of Rite Aid’s evolving digital strategy and we will continue to explore, test and implement innovative technologies that will help us to better serve our valued customers.”

Apple responded to the Rite Aid-CVS situation last year by stating that Apple Pay feedback from customers and retailers was "overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic" at the time, and the mobile payments service is now available at over 750,000 locations in the United States and United Kingdom. Other MCX members that remain without Apple Pay support include Walmart, Target and Lowe's.

Rumors have all but confirmed the upcoming iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus will include Force Touch, allowing the device to distinguish between a light tap and a deeper press to enable a wide range of new gestures.

Force Touch has been built into the Apple Watch and the trackpads of the Retina MacBook and the newest Retina MacBook Pros, adding a whole new dimension to the way the devices are controlled. On the Apple Watch, Force Touch is used within apps to access different settings, and on the Mac, it can do things like previewing links in Safari, and accelerating rewind/fast forward speed in iMovie.

Force Touch on the iPhone will work similarly to the way that it works on the existing devices that offer Force Touch, but there are some differences, according to information an inside source shared with 9to5Mac. Force Touch on the iPhone is said to be used primarily for "shortcut actions," letting users perform tasks within apps more quickly.

In Maps, for example, using Force Touch on a point of interest will cause turn-by-turn directions to start up immediately, while force pressing on a song in the Music app will bring up a menu to save it to a playlist. Force pressing on certain apps on the Home Screen could open directly to specific sections of the app.

Another feature in testing, according to one source, are shortcuts that appear after Force Touching an app icon on the Home screen. For example, if a user deep presses on the Phone app icon, he could choose to shortcut directly to the Voicemail tab. This could also apply to deep pressing the News app icon and being taken directly to either the Favorites or For You tabs.

Aside from Force Touch, the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus will feature an A9 processor with 2GB of RAM, a revamped camera system with a 12-megapixel camera, improved Touch ID, and a chassis made of a new material with reinforcements at the weak points that previously caused some iPhones to bend. Rumors suggest the addition of Force Touch and the new reinforcements will cause the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to be 0.2mm thicker, a change that will be hardly noticeable to most users.

Following the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last September, some users began experiencing issues with the larger-sized smartphones bending in their pockets after normal day-to-day usage. The issue -- informally known as "Bendgate" -- became widespread after a video test revealed it does not take much force to cause a slight curvature in the device.

Apple later commented that an iPhone 6 Plus bending under normal use is "extremely rare," adding that it had received only nine complaints from customers about the issue at the time. The company said the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus feature a "precision engineered unibody enclosure" constructed from 6000 series anodized aluminum and "stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high stress locations" on the devices.

Nevertheless, it appears that Apple engineers have tweaked the design of the so-called "iPhone 6s" by strengthening the weak points of the smartphone's rear shell. A new YouTube video shared by Unbox Therapy shows that the areas around the Home and volume buttons on the "iPhone 6s" appear to be notably thicker -- 1.9mm versus 1.14mm -- suggesting that Apple's next iPhones could be less susceptible to bending under normal usage.

Interestingly, the video shows that the "iPhone 6s" rear shell is also slightly lighter, despite having a thicker shell at certain weak points. The purported "iPhone 6s" rear shell weighs in at 25 grams, compared to 27 grams for the iPhone 6 rear shell, suggesting that Apple could be using a new material such as the rumored 7000 Series anodized aluminum for its next-generation smartphones.

MacManiack, a reseller of iPhone, iPad, and Mac parts and accessories, has shared a new video that compares a purported "iPhone 6s" display with an existing iPhone 6 display. The side-by-side comparison reveals that the displays are very similar overall, with identical dimensions and the same placement of the FaceTime camera and proximity sensor, but the front panels do have some notable differences.

The alleged "iPhone 6s" display has a new connector in the top-left corner that supports multiple rumors claiming the next-generation smartphone will be equipped with pressure-sensitive Force Touch technology. The "iPhone 6s" display also has slightly redesigned flex connectors, Touch ID is integrated in the LCD and digitizer connector, and the protective plate on the back of the LCD is glued in place.

As the launch of the so-called "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" inches closer, multiple components for the upcoming smartphones have leaked from within the supply chain. Chinese phone repair company GeekBar shared three photos of an identical looking "iPhone 6s" display assembly last week, while photos of the device's purported rear shell, logic board, battery, and more parts have also surfaced.

The European Commission has failed to find evidence that Apple conspired with record labels to put a stop to free music streaming services, reports Re/code, citing sources with knowledge of the investigation.

The European Commission spoke with multiple digital music services and record labels, but was not able to find evidence of illegal activity, putting an end to the probe. Investigators' "files will remain open," however, as Spotify continues with licensing talks with major labels.

European regulators began scrutinizing Apple's discussions with record labels in April, over concerns Apple would use its influence to persuade music companies to put an end to free ad-supported music services such as Spotify. Apple Music, unlike Spotify, does not offer a free listening tier.

Rumors later suggested Apple was indeed leveraging its power in the music industry to push record labels to stop offering licensing options for freemium music tiers, leading to investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, both of which are ongoing.

According to Re/code's sources, while the European Commission has found no evidence of collusion between Apple and record labels, it has also launched a separate investigation into Apple's App Store policies concerning competing music services.

Separately, the EU has asked Spotify and other music streaming services for information pertaining to Apple's mobile App Store, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Regulators are seeking information on the restrictions Apple places on apps offered through the store.

Apple's App Store policies are also currently being looked at by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, due to the 30 percent fee the company collects on app and subscription revenue. The FTC is concerned that Apple's fee and its policies, such as a ban on links to outside stores, are illegal under antitrust law.

Continuing on with its "If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone" advertising campaign, Apple today updated its YouTube channel with a new "iPhone - Photos & Videos" ad that focuses on the photographic capabilities of the iPhone.

The ad depicts an assortment of artfully arranged iPhones that display photos and videos in an assortment of different patterns. A voiceover accompanies the ad, pointing out the iPhone's popularity as a camera and its ease of use.

Every day millions of amazing photos and videos are shot with iPhone. That's because the iPhone makes it easy for everyone to shoot amazing photos and video.

The style of the video mimics the other ads that are part of this particular campaign, "Loved," "iPhone - Hardware & Software," and "Amazing Apps," all of which were released in July. As with those videos, Apple ends the "Photos & Videos" ad with the tagline "If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone."

Apple's latest campaign is the third series of ads for the iPhone, following an initial set of comedy ads from Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake and the "Shot on iPhone 6" campaign that highlights photos captured with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

As part of its newest advertising efforts, Apple also recently introduced a "Why There's Nothing Quite Like an iPhone" web campaign that focuses on features that differentiate the iPhone from competing devices, pointing out the iPhone's integration of hardware and software, wide range of apps, camera, resistance to malware, Touch ID, and Apple Pay.