ALBAWABA - The latest in what seems to be an endless blood feud, Apple fans seethe as Samsung gains the upper-hand in top customer satisfaction for cell phones according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) published this week.
Breaking last year's deadlock of ACSI ranking of 80, Samsung inches one increment further to score 81 on this year's ACSI score. The overall cell phone industry score is also marching ahead, rising 1% compared to the sharp 4% decline in 2025.
ACSI says the most important factor in customer satisfaction is when new features mean daily value for the consumer without adding any 'pain points' such as a shorter battery life.
This year also marks the first time ACSI measured AI integration which scored 85 meaning that the consumers are well aware of the AI features and are quite satisfied with them, suggesting that AI is quickly turning from a novelty to an everyday utility.
Along with AI integration, ACSI measures a variety of metrics such as new flagship owners where Samsung's latest Galaxy S leads at 84, while new iPhone owners sit at 82 with Google not far behind with their flagship models scoring 80.
In the foldable phones segment, Samsung again holds a strong lead with 80, putting them 8 points ahead of Google (72) and 10 points ahead of Motorla (70).
However, change maybe coming as Apple is rumored to enter the foldables market with their own foldable phone to be released alongside the iPhone 18 Pro.
In the Smartwatch segment, Apple holds last year's score of 80 while Samsung drops 4% from last year making a first-place tie between both companies.
The ACSI gets their scores from about 27,000 completed surveys via email between April 2025 and March 2026.
