In a surprise turn of events, Samsung has overtaken Apple for the very first time and now leads in consumer loyalty in almost all of the consumer electronics categories it competes in. This includes flat screen TVs, laptops (which it tied Apple for 1st) and most importantly, Samsung beat out Apple for consumer loyalty in smartphones.

Apple has won the consumer loyalty award every year since the first iPhone was launched. The data in this report shows that Apple appears to be losing ground to Samsung in the smartphone world, a world that Apple has dominated for years. One possible reason for this turn in events is that consumers appear to see Samsung as being more innovative with its smartphones compared to Apple. Samsung adds unproven cutting edge features while Apple usually waits to see if consumers want that feature. If we look at NFC (near field communications) Apple is the only smartphone maker that has not released a smartphone with NFC built-in.

iOS pretty much looks exactly the same as it did when the original iPhone debuted on June 29, 2007. It's time for Apple to begin focusing more on innovating the iOS instead of focusing on the look of the iPhone.  Apple can't let a repeat of what happened between Apple and Microsoft, to happen with Samsung. Apple was king in the PC world but began to rest on its laurels, that's exactly when Microsoft came in for the kill and took Apple's title away. It appears history is repeating itself.

The bad news didn't stop at smartphones for Apple. Amazon also overtook Apple in consumer loyalty in the tablet category. According to the report, Amazon's Kindle Fire saw more consumer loyalty than Apple's iPad or iPad mini. Apple and Samsung tied for second in consumer loyalty in the tablet category. Hopefully somebody from Cupertino will read this and stop Samsung and Amazon from becoming Apple's next Microsoft. For Apple's sake.