The new ACSI Telecommunications Report 2018, released Wednesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, named a surprise winner: The iPhone 7 Plus. The Apple device that's now over 18 months old took the top spot with a score of 85 out of 100. Samsung's Galaxy S8+ and S8 placed second and third (with 84 and 83), followed by the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus both with 83.

The iPhone X, came in 17th, with a score of 80, ranking ninth among iPhone models but only five points ranking-wise below the older iPhone 7.

"For iPhone users," ASCI said in its report, "the features of the X model are not enough to offset the cost."

The top smartphone in the 2017 edition of the survey was another older model, the iPhone SE, with a score of 87; the iPhone 7 Plus came in third last year with 86. 

There is one major reason that the ASCI methodology may favor older models —the survey, of 45,292 customers, was conducted between April 2017 and March 2018, putting half of the evaluation period prior to the release of the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, giving a smaller consumer sample size to choose from.

Source: appleinsider