The findings of a recent survey undertaken by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) have revealed that smartphone users in the United States prefer Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The findings are shocking since the US is considered to be Apple's bastion.

According to a recent report in IB Times, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which came to the market in October 2014, scored 86 points out of 100 in ACSI's customer satisfaction chart for smartphone devices. On the other hand, Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus claimed the second spot with 82 points. Even the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5 scored 82 points.

While Moto X stood third with 81 points in terms of the US smartphone users' preference, three other devices - LG G3, iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 - shared the fourth spot with 80 points each. On the other hand, Galaxy S3 came fifth securing 79 points.

It may be mentioned here that the recently released Galaxy S6 was not included in the survey because the sales of the device had not commenced when the ACSI undertook the survey.

In the meantime, as far as the overall scores among all smartphone manufacturers are concerned, both Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics are tied in the first spot. A press release issued by ACSI's David read, "Apple advances 1 percent to 80, going head-to-head with Samsung (-1%)."

David further stated, "Despite its high-scoring phones, Samsung may find it difficult to chip into Apple's market share because of the need to overcome the brand appeal that is Apple's mainstay."

Meanwhile, ACSI Director Van Amburg said, "Samsung gained an initial advantage as the first manufacturer to introduce large screens for smartphones, but with the launch of large-screen phones by Apple, its loyal customers have little reason to look elsewhere."

It is interesting to note that Apple and Samsung are archrivals in the smartphone industry and both the companies released their devices, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Galaxy Note 4 respectively, around the same time in 2014.