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Google Pixel 3 is apparently snatching users from Samsung, not so much Apple
July 19, 2025
Judging from Google’sadvertising methods, design choices, andfeature effortswhen it comes to theGoogle Pixel 3andPixel 3 XL, it’s pretty clear the company is trying to entice iPhone users over to Android. In ourreview for the Google Pixel 3, we even referred to it as “the Android iPhone.”
However, according toCounterpoint Research, the number of consumers who are leaving Apple for Google pales in comparison to the number of users leaving Samsung for Google.
In a recent blog post, Counterpoint Research suggests that around 18 percent of current owners of the Google Pixel 3 upgraded to it from an iPhone, while a whopping 51 percent upgraded from aSamsungsmartphone. Remarkably, a total of 31 percent of Google Pixel 3 owners came specifically from theSamsung Galaxy S7, which at this point is over three years old.
Counterpoint also says that 14 percent of Pixel 3 owners upgraded from a Motorola device while 17 percent upgraded from something that wasn’t a Motorola, Samsung, or Apple smartphone.
Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint, said that the news that over 80 percent of Google Pixel 3 owners are just shifting from one Android device to another is likely disappointing to Google. “The Pixel was built to lead Android innovation and be a device to sway the iOS base over to Android,” he said, which Counterpoint’s findings don’t support.
However disappointed Google might be with these numbers, it still has much to celebrate. According to Counterpoint, in the final quarter of 2018, the Google Pixel line accounted for 7.3 percent of the total smartphone sales atVerizon. In that same period, Verizon’s sales accounted for about 16 percent of all smartphone sales in the country, so it’s clear Google is pushing some decent numbers.
Unfortunately, though, the numbers can’t be too great since Google hasn’t given even as much as a hint of how many Pixel smartphones are out there in the wild. We usually could deduce at least an estimate by looking at theAndroid distribution report— but this report hasn’t been updated since October of last year, right around the launch of the Pixel 3 (coincidence?).
NEXT:Here are the best Google Pixel 3 cases
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