iPhone 6 Spurs Spike in Trade-Ins of Android-Powered Devices

It looks as though all those claims of former Android device users jumping ship for the iPhone 6 were true, after all. A new report from Bloomberg states that trade-ins for Samsung smartphones have tripled over at Gazelle, and that number may reach even higher. Indeed, the report states that almost a third of the the site's Android users plan to switch to Apple, with 39 percent reporting that the bigger screens are the deciding factor.

Sharyn Funamura, a lawyer in Berkeley, California, seems representative of the trend. Funamura had been loyal to Samsung and BlackBerry before that, but when Apple "finally addressed a lot of the reasons why I hadn’t bought an iPhone yet, then I just said, ‘OK, I bought your phone.'"

Similar reports are coming in from analyst firm RBC, which claims that a whopping 26 percent of iPhone buyers are purchasing Apple's handset for the first time. And all this comes at a time when sales of Samsung's Galaxy S5 weren't nearly as strong as expected despite heavy marketing and product placement.

"We’re seeing a higher propensity to switch," said Chris Sullivan, CEO of Gazelle. Sullivan claims that the larger screen size and the improved functionality of the phone make a "strong and compelling product" that should lure many Android users over to Apple's orchard.

The phones themselves will be available starting tomorrow, September 19, although pre-order shipping times have already slipped to seven to 10 days for the iPhone 6 and a distressing three to four weeks for the iPhone 6 Plus. Want one but haven't pre-ordered? There's always a chance you could get one by visiting your local Apple Store — but watch out for those lines.

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