Samsung beats iPhone in consumer buzz

Nokia's suggestions that the iPhone may be falling from fashion-grace could be correct, though it seems Samsung's Android devices not the Finn's new Lumias are the buzz beneficiaries. New research into "consumer perception" by stats firm YouGov suggests Samsung has edged ahead of the Cupertino smartphone when it comes to being at the forefront of peoples' minds, a finding that's attributed to Samsung's snarky adverts.

Those ads took pot-shots at the sort of queueing behavior spotted among the "iPhone faithful", lining up outside Apple stores waiting for the Next Big Thing to arrive. The commercials "appear to be affecting the iPhone's consumer perception," YouGov concludes, "sending it into decline around the time the first ad appeared and continuing now."

YouGov's methodology involves asking a survey group "if you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" Scores range from -100 to 100, subtracting negative reactions from positive to arrive at a final, overall figure: Samsung now sits a single point ahead of Apple, at 26.

Still, it may not be the young, fashionable audience that Samsung hopes for that's actually shifting the figures. According to the researchers, "the downward and upward perception movement of the iPhone and Samsung respectively is driven mostly by adults 50+." A sale is a sale, certainly – and Samsung has shipped a record 300m devices this year already after all – but we're still little closer to knowing whether the iPhone really has had its moment in the sun.