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Who's buying the new Galaxy S5? Lots of iPhone owners

Survey finds most of those upgrading to Samsung's new device are iPhone users, not Samsung loyalists.

Attractive enough to ditch the old iPhone? CNET

Given what we know about people's fierce loyalty to either Android or iOS, you might assume that most people who upgrade to the new Samsung Galaxy S5 are exchanging an old Galaxy S3 or other older Android phone for the latest and greatest out of South Korea.

But according to a survey by UK-based CompareMyMobile, a sort of aggregator of gadget trade-in sites, nearly 38 percent of people trading up for the Galaxy S5 are doing so from an Apple phone, whereas only about 19 percent are upgrading from another Samsung model. In third place, almost 16 percent traded up from an older Sony phone.

The Galaxy S5 isn't the only thing on the radar of Samsung enthusiasts, though. The survey also found that over 20 percent of those planning to upgrade to a Samsung device would choose the Galaxy S4, while almost 14 percent were interested in the Galaxy Note 3. So, apparently not everyone is obsessed with the "next big thing."

Lots of good news there for Samsung, which seems to be stealing away a significant amount of iPhone users while also cultivating its own brand loyalty.

CompareMyMobile didn't provide details of its survey methodology but the company's co-founder, Ashley Turner, explained that "a new feature we've applied to the site now tracks what devices consumers have upgraded to. Through this we can get a fantastic insight into the trends in both brand loyalty and operating platform churn."

CompareMyMobile's data also finds that the brand most traded-in is also Samsung (40.44 percent), followed by Apple (26.16 percent). This isn't surprising, given how popular both brands are worldwide, but what we don't know for sure is what the 40 percent of users ditching their old Samsung are trading them in for.

It could be that Apple is stealing a fair amount of those people back to the iOS side. If not now, then almost certainly when the iPhone 6 is finally released. Let us know in the comments what you're trading your old phone in for.