Apple, Samsung top J.D. Power satisfaction survey

Users of the nation's two top wireless services favor Apple, but those who use Sprint and T-Mobile love Samsung, according to a J.D. Power study.

October 17, 2013 12:51 PM PDT

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

No surprise here. The nation's most popular smartphones are favored by the customers of the top wireless carriers in the U.S., according to a J.D. Power customer service study released Thursday.

The study found that consumers from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint were most satisfied with the performance of both Apple and Samsung smartphones, but a further breakdown of the figures showed how customers of certain carriers liked one brand over the other.

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Apple's iPhone ranked the highest with AT&T and Verizon customers -- the largest carriers in the nation -- while Sprint and T-Mobile customers were more satisfied with Samsung's devices. Research company J.D. Power conducted the survey between February and August this year, so that means T-Mobile customers didn't get a chance to rank the iPhone's performance. The smartphone didn't land on the T-Mobile network until March.

To complete the study, the research company interviewed 6,421 smartphone customers, who had owned their device less than one year, about performance, design, features and how easy it was to use the device.

Other findings from study:

• AT&T customers were most likely to love their devices, followed by Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.

• Verizon customers who owned iPhones were the happiest with their phone's performance, while Sprint customers who owned Samsung devices were happiest.

• The most smartphones that "perform particularly" with users across all the carriers were (in alphabetical order): iPhone 5, Blackberry Z10, Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung Galaxy Note II.

• Sprint customers are more likely choose smartphones for the features, while T-Mobile customers are more likely to buy smartphones due to price.