The findings are particularly relevant as Samsung faces stronger competition in Indonesia's growing smartphone market. While overall smartphone shipments increased significantly in 2024, Samsung experienced a decline in annual growth and market share. The results suggest that improving the actual quality of devices may be more effective for retaining customers than relying on satisfaction-focused marketing alone.
Samsung Loses Market Share as Smartphone Demand Grows
Smartphones have become an essential part of everyday life, supporting communication, financial transactions, social interaction, and other activities. As the smartphone market expands, competition among manufacturers has intensified, making customer retention increasingly important for brands.
Data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) cited in the study show that smartphone shipments in Indonesia reached 10 million units in the first half of 2024, representing a 27.4 percent year-on-year increase. The growth was supported by the Eid season and increasing 5G penetration, which rose from 44.3 percent to 56.9 percent during the same period.
Samsung, however, moved in the opposite direction. The company recorded negative annual growth of 8.2 percent, while its market share declined from 24 percent in 2023 to 17.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024. According to the researchers, a brand losing market share while the overall market is expanding may indicate that existing customers are moving toward competitors.
This market condition makes customer loyalty increasingly important. Loyal customers are more likely to remain with a brand, repurchase its products, and resist offers from competing brands.
Study Focused on Long-Term Samsung Users
Argya Permanaputera Irman and Edi Nurtjahjadi conducted a quantitative study involving 90 Samsung smartphone users in Bandung City.
The respondents were selected based on three conditions: they had to be at least 18 years old, live in Bandung City, and have used a Samsung smartphone for at least three years.
The three-year requirement was designed to ensure that respondents had experienced a substantial period of product use and at least one potential device replacement cycle. This allowed the researchers to examine loyalty beyond short-term satisfaction after a purchase.
Data were collected through an electronic questionnaire distributed through social media. The questionnaire assessed three major factors: product quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.
Product quality was measured through five aspects: resistance to damage, battery endurance, data privacy protection, sound quality, and visual display quality. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty were each measured using three indicators.
The researchers analyzed the data using regression analysis and the Sobel test to determine whether customer satisfaction played a mediating role between product quality and customer loyalty. The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25.
Product Quality Strongly Influences Customer Satisfaction
The first major finding was that product quality has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction.
The regression coefficient for product quality was 0.489, with a t-value of 8.197 and a significance value of 0.000. Product quality explained 43.3 percent of the variation in customer satisfaction.
The result indicates that consumers' daily experiences with their smartphones strongly influence how satisfied they feel with the brand. Features such as battery endurance, device durability, data security, sound quality, and display performance are not merely technical specifications. They are characteristics users experience repeatedly during everyday smartphone use.
When a device performs according to or beyond consumer expectations, satisfaction is more likely to develop.
Product Quality Directly Builds Customer Loyalty
The study also found that product quality has a direct and significant effect on customer loyalty.
When product quality and customer satisfaction were analyzed together, product quality had a coefficient of 0.339, while customer satisfaction had a coefficient of 0.352. Both relationships were statistically significant.
The model explained 42.9 percent of the variation in customer loyalty after adjustment.
The researchers also found that product quality had a stronger standardized effect on loyalty than customer satisfaction. This suggests that Samsung users' direct evaluation of their device quality may be more important in maintaining loyalty than their overall feeling of satisfaction alone.
In practical terms, customers may remain loyal because they believe their smartphone performs well, lasts long enough, protects their information, and provides a reliable daily experience.
Customer Satisfaction Acts as a Partial Bridge
Customer satisfaction also emerged as a significant predictor of loyalty. The relationship produced a t-value of 2.980 and a significance value of 0.004.
The mediation analysis further showed that customer satisfaction partially connects product quality with customer loyalty. The indirect effect was 0.172, with a Sobel statistic of 2.783 and a significance value of 0.005.
The mediation was classified as partial rather than full because product quality continued to have a significant direct effect on loyalty even after customer satisfaction was included in the analysis.
The researchers estimate that roughly one-third of the total effect of product quality on loyalty is transmitted through customer satisfaction, while the remaining effect operates directly through product quality.
Improving Device Quality Should Come First
For Samsung, the study offers a clear business implication: improving the actual quality of smartphones should be a priority for strengthening customer loyalty.
Irman and Nurtjahjadi of Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani specifically recommend greater attention to battery endurance and resistance to damage, because these are among the product characteristics consumers encounter frequently in everyday use.
An ethical paraphrase of the researchers' conclusion is that improving product quality can strengthen Samsung customer loyalty through two pathways: directly and indirectly by increasing customer satisfaction. However, because the direct pathway is stronger, marketing campaigns that focus on perceived satisfaction without corresponding improvements in device quality are unlikely to reverse declining market share.
The findings may also be relevant to other technology companies. In high-involvement products such as smartphones, which consumers use every day and replace relatively infrequently, reliable product performance can become a foundation for long-term customer relationships.
Implications for the Smartphone Industry
The research suggests that customer loyalty cannot be built solely through promotional communication. Consumers ultimately evaluate whether a product delivers reliable performance over time.
For Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers, investments in durability, battery performance, privacy protection, audio quality, and display technology could contribute to stronger customer retention.
The study also highlights an important distinction between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Satisfaction helps strengthen loyalty, but satisfaction alone does not explain the entire relationship. Consumers can remain loyal because they directly value the quality and performance of the product itself.
Study Limitations and Future Research
The researchers acknowledge several limitations. The study involved only 90 respondents, focused on one smartphone brand, and was conducted in one city. Its findings therefore cannot automatically be generalized to all smartphone users or other regions.
The cross-sectional design also limits strong conclusions about cause and effect over time. In addition, the adjusted R-square of 0.429 means that more than half of the variation in customer loyalty remains unexplained.
Future research could examine additional factors, including brand image, price perception, after-sales service quality, and switching costs. Larger samples and comparisons involving multiple smartphone brands could also determine whether the relationship observed among Samsung users in Bandung applies more broadly.
Author Profile
Argya Permanaputera Irman is affiliated with the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani. The article identifies him as the corresponding author but does not specify an academic degree or a more detailed professional field beyond the Management department.
Edi Nurtjahjadi is also affiliated with the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani. The article does not provide his academic degree or a more specific field of expertise beyond his management affiliation.
Research Source
Article Title: Product Quality and Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction among Samsung Smartphone Users in Bandung City
Authors: Argya Permanaputera Irman and Edi Nurtjahjadi
Journal: International Journal of Sustainable Applied Sciences (IJSAS)
Publication Year: 2026
Volume: 4, No. 8, pp. 825–834
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59890/ijsas.v4i8.37
Official Journal: https://ijsasjournal.my.id/index.php/ijsas
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