• There is a recently published and credible report on this topic available, however, it is locked behind a paywall. The report can be found here.
• Price (71%), battery life (68%), fast connection (63%), OS (57%), screen size (50%), and brand name (53%) are among the top phone features that influence consumers when shopping for a smart phone.
• An ancademic study concluded that "payment options, perceived enjoyment, peer and social influence, product design, and product brand were key influential factors that control the buying decision of Gen Z. Among the main insights this study has revealed, is the key role of providing the proper financial tools for consumers, which can heavily minimize the barriers to buy smartphones especially among Gen Z."
•  61% if iPhone users report that default privacy settings are a key factor in their purchase decision.
• According to recently published data by Deloitte, "sixty-seven percent of consumers said that when 5G is available, they would be more likely to buy a 5G-compatible smartphone." Likewise, "ninety-one percent of consumers believe they should be able to control, edit, and delete their personal data."
• "More than half (52%) believe their current phone has the capabilities they need, or that the functionality of new phones is not advanced enough to warrant an upgrade."
• "More than 40% of consumers cited economic factors as the main reason they’re not planning to upgrade. Twenty percent of consumers noted that new phones are too expensive, 12% responded they can’t afford to buy a new phone, and 11% mentioned they are still paying off their current phone."
• Accessing new and innovative features/function is the primary pruchase driver for smartphones across global markets. Likewise, consumers are driven to upgrade their phones when their current one starts performing poorly.

Results of Early Findings

• The initial research has determined that, while there is a wealth of information available that helps to answer this research request, much of it is locked behind paywalls, especially the information that focuses on the U.S. specifically. A lot of the more credible insights on this topic, such as academic studies, focus on non-U.S. geographies.
• Despite this significant challenge, our team has determined that there are insights available which can answer this research, however, this data is largely fragmented and scattered across various sources. Therefore, a deeper level of research is required inorder to hunt and peck through sources to dig up these relevant insights and compile them into a unified report.
• Much of the available data focuses on shopping for a smartphone in general, as opposed to shopping specifically online. Therefore, we recommend approaching this research from an angle that would allow our researchers to include online shopping data specifically as well as any general smartphone shopping insights that could logically be applicable/relevant to online shopping even though the data may not directly say it is. This is because things like consumer preferences and priorities may not differ much when shopping online vs. shopping in other channels.