Researchers interviewed 530 people between 2015 and 2016. They were asked questions about their phones as well as their personal life. The study revealed that iPhones are more preferred by young females who also see their smartphone as a status symbol.
We found that iPhone owners are more likely to be female, younger, and increasingly concerned about their smartphone being viewed as a status object," notes the abstract from the Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking journal given on Mary Ann Liebert Publishers site.
Researchers also found that iPhone users have lower level of honesty and humility compared to the Android users. "Key differences in personality were also observed with iPhone users displaying lower levels of Honesty-Humility and higher levels of emotionality."
The research was originally conducted in September at the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section annual conference. "This study provides new insights into personality differences between different types of smartphone users," said Heather Shaw, from the University of Lincoln in the U.K. "Smartphone choice is the most basic level of smartphone personalisation, and even this can tell us a lot about the user," she added.
Researchers conducted two studies of personality differences between iPhone and Android smartphone users. During the first study, 240 people were asked to complete a questionnaire on characteristics they associate with users of each smartphone brand.
In the second study they tested these stereotypes against actual personality traits of 530 Android and iPhone smartphone users.
The first study revealed that Android users have greater levels of honesty and humility, agreeableness and openness personality traits than iPhone users. Also they are less extrovert than iOS users.
The second study claimed that most of the personality stereotypes did not occur in reality, as only honesty and humility was found in greater amounts within Android users. Also women were twice more likely to own an iPhone than an Android Phone.