A new survey says that the average iPhone user considers their handset to be worth $313 to them, while Android users said their smartphone was worth $220 to them.
Investment firm Piper Jaffray recently polled more than 400 consumers from around the U.S. and Asia in its annual cell phone survey. The surveys were conducted in larger cities, which resulted in more than half of users being iPhone owners.
Analyst Gene (No Relation to Herman) Munster and his associates asked survey respondents to come up with a dollar value for how much their phone was worth to them. Among 208 current iPhone users, the average value was $313, more than $100 over the subsidized price of the 16 GB iPhone 4S.
Users of Android smartphones came up with an average value of $220, while BlackBerry device owners put the value of their handsets at $219.
Munster believes the value iPhone owners attach to their handsets suggests that even if carriers were to reduce their subsidies, consumers would be willing to pick up at least some of the difference in added cost.