The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released a study on telecommunications, cell phones, and smartwatches this year. Here’s how the iPhone and Apple Watch worked.
The iPhone loses a point, while the Apple Watch remains stable
Over the years, Apple has touted its high customer satisfaction as a mark of its product quality, to the point that Tim Cook’s “customer sat” line has become something of a meme, particularly at Apple events and earnings calls.
Last month, during Apple’s Q2 2026 earnings call, customer satisfaction was mentioned five times over the hour-long session, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh both noting that customer satisfaction for the iPhone 17 line had recently been measured at 99% in the US by 451 Research. Parekh also cited figures from 451 Research: 97% for the Mac, 98% for the iPad, and 96% for the Apple Watch.
This week, however, ACSI (via Macmonde) published a study on telecommunications, cell phones, and smartwatches, with somewhat different figures.
The study was based on 26,963 completed surveys conducted between April 2025 and March 2026. Customers were asked to rate their recent experiences with the largest companies in each category.
In the overall “mobile phones” category, Samsung took first place, maintaining its score at 81, while Apple lost one point compared to last year, to 80.
The category’s overall score increased 1% to 79. This year’s study also measured AI feature performance for the first time, with the category scoring 85 on ACSI’s 0-100 scale.
Notably, AI feature performance starts at 85, which is almost the most important interactions, suggesting that AI is moving from novelty to practical utility for many customers.
When the “mobile phones” category was broken down by model type (flagship, foldables, and legacy/other), Samsung again scored higher than Apple in the flagship segment, 84 versus 82, respectively. In contrast, Apple scored one point above Samsung in the legacy/other segment, 79 versus 78, respectively. Samsung comfortably leads the foldable device segment with a score of 80, well ahead of Google with 72 and Motorola (Lenovo) with 70.
Meanwhile, in the “smartwatch” category, Apple and Samsung are tied at 80 each, with Apple unchanged year-over-year and Samsung down from last year’s 83.
Overall customer satisfaction in the “smartwatch” category also remained unchanged at 77, with “Apps & Accessories Connectivity,” “Fitness/Activity Tracking Usability,” and “Website Satisfaction” scoring highest, at 83 each.
To view the full ACSI report, follow this link.
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