• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, June 4, 2019

The U.S. cell phone business seems mostly a two-company competition, with Samsung Note 9 smartphone topping the list, according to the 15th annual American Consumer Satisfaction Index, released on Tuesday. That phone model scored an 86 on a scale that goes to 100.

The average grade for phones was a 79, the same as it has been for the last four years.  

“[Unchanging] customer satisfaction with mobile devices is the result of high expectations combined with a lack of innovation in the industry,” the report says. It guesses that consumers may be waiting for 5G phones, and that those device will propel the market.

Indicative of how Apple and Samsung dominate the business, second place is shared by  Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus and X,  Samsung’s J7 Prime and S8+, and just one interloper, the Motorola Moto G (which has several different models). All of those phones scored an 83.

Of the 23 phones on the list, all are Apple or Samsung models, with the exception of the Moto G and the Moto E. The Moto phones, though with a Motorola label, are manufactured by Lenovo, based in China.

“Smaller cell phone manufacturers take a hit, falling 4% to a combined score of 72,” the report analysis reads. “Across the entire customer experience, smaller phone makers fall far behind the major players in the industry.”

That the Note 9 tops the list, is, in a way, fitting. When it came out last August it was priced at  $1,000, making it among the most expensive phones on the market. Now, without a wireless plan attached, the phone can be bought for about $650 from various vendors.

According to the website 24/7,  the iPhone X, one of the second-place winners, was not deemed any better than the iPhone SE, also a second-place finisher that was released in 2016 and officially discontinued by Apple last year. Even so, the SE was still sometimes available for far less money n than the iPhone X.

The ACSI also measures wireless carriers, and T-Mobile finished first there, though it is the nation’s third largest carrier. It garnered a a 76, above Verizon (74) and AT&T (73). Sprint, which hopes to merge with T-Mobile, just notched a 65.

U.S. Cellular, a regional wireless operator that is the nation’s fifth largest, finished in a tie with Verizon with a score of 74.

The ACSI report is based on 19,658 customer interviews polled via email, conducted from April of 2018 through March of this year.

For the record, ACSI also rates other kinds of consumer experience. This year, consumers polled gave breweries a score of 85, the top of the long list. Subscription television service was last, with a consumer rating of just 62, tied with Internet service providers.

Wireless phone services finished third from the bottom, along with Internet news and opinion providers  with 75. Cell phone companies’ rank of  79 placed them sixth on a list filled with ties, ranked with apparel makers, athletic shoes, computer software, Internet investment services, Internet search engines and online travel services.