The era of the Apple fanboy may be coming to an end. According to a survey conducted in partnership with consulting firm Reticle Research, Apple falls squarely in the middle among Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon when it comes to inspiring passion and trust in consumers. It came in behind Google in both categories, and far behind Amazon, which led in positive responses for pretty much every category respondents were asked about.

The survey, conducted from September 28th to October 10th, included 1,520 people nationally representative of the US, based on 2016 US Census estimates. The findings suggest that Apple, while still a massively influential force in the industry, engenders less positive feelings, and in some cases more explicitly negative ones.

On the topic of whether respondents would recommend Apple products and services to friends and family, the company again fell behind Google and Amazon, both of which garnered responses of either “somewhat likely” to “extremely likely” from more than 90 percent of survey participants. Apple, on the other hand, received similar responses for only about 80 percent of participants. The iPhone maker also came in second to last, ahead of only Facebook, in extreme negative sentiment, with 15 percent of participants saying they were “not at all likely” to recommend the company’s products.

A recent poll from CNBC, titled the “All-America Economic Survey,” found that 64 percent of Americans own an Apple product, evidence that Apple’s ubiquity in consumer hardware remains undeniable. Yet it’s clear more people may feel less enamored with the brand these days.

Last year, Apple removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, telling consumers that the move, widely seen as user-hostile, was to usher in the bold future of Bluetooth headphones. And while Apple’s AirPods have been a surprise hit, not all consumers are buying into the company’s vision. More than 70 percent of Android users, in a survey of more than 7,000 smartphone owners published by Yahoo Finance in August, said the lack of a 3.5mm jack on newer iPhones was the primary reason they’re not interested in jumping ship to iOS. A theme present throughout the survey responses, Yahoo noted, was the notion that Apple removed the headphone jack only to charge exorbitant prices for accessories and products they didn’t need or want.

Ultimately, Apple’s business still largely depends on charging high premiums for cutting-edge versions of the same old screens. Consumers may be just less enthusiastic of these practices today than they were five years ago.

Source: theverge