Consumer reviews or critic’s test - How are cell phone buyers weighing up their options?

• Mexico is the market where respondents are most likely to say they rely on consumer reviews (39%).
• At 26%, Germany leads in cell phone consumers saying they neither rely on critic reviews nor on consumer reviews when making a choice.

When choosing a cell phone to buy, what do consumers rely on more - critic reviews full of benchmark tests, product specifications and data speed tests, or consumer reviews that talk about how good the camera is in low light conditions or whether the phone survived a fall to the floor?

Data from a recent YouGov survey that polled consumers across 17 international markets shows that close to two in five (39%) rely on both critic and consumer reviews equally followed by more than a quarter (28%) of respondents saying they rely on consumer reviews.

Over one in ten consumers (13%) rely more on critic reviews. Notably, a similar proportion of consumers (14%) say they rely neither on critic nor consumer reviews.

For those who rely on reviews from both consumers and critics equally – Hong Kongers (51%) and Singaporeans (50%) lead, followed by Indians (45%) and Indonesians (45%). In Europe, Italians (40%) account for the largest proportion of those who rely on both types of reviews equally when choosing cell phones.

Similar proportions of consumers in Great Britain (36%) and the US (37%) rely on critic as well as consumer reviews equally.

Australians (16%) are the most likely across all markets to say they rely on critic reviews when buying cell phones. Swedes (15%), Mexicans (15%) and Italians (15%) closely follow Australians in their choice of critic reviews of cell phones.

On the other hand, Poles (7%) and Hong Kongers (8%) are the least likely to take to critics’ opinions or reviews of cell phones.

As for consumers reviews, nearly two in five (39%) Mexicans rely on feedback from other consumers for cell phones, followed by respondents in the UAE (34%), Spain (34%) and Indonesia (34%).

Finally, more than a quarter of Germans (26%) rely on neither - the most likely across markets to say so. France (22%), Britain (21%) and Canada (20%) are some of the other markets surveyed where consumers are most likely to say they don’t look up critic or  consumer reviews when selecting cell phones.

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 500 and 2002 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in February 2024. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

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