More than half of Samsung customers said that they would continue to choose the same brand rather than a competitor, while only less than a fourth of Apple customers said they would do so, a report showed.

Securing the top spot three times in a row since last year in a report called Technology Brand Preference Index, Samsung marked a record rating of 58.7 and also became the only company out of 20 tech firms that scored over the 50-threshhold.

The index, released by market research institute Strategy Analytics, indicates the balance among consumers who say they would choose a brand and those who would not, when buying technology products such as computers, mobile phones, TVs and related products.

Apple has seen its brand preference decline during the first two quarters, slipping a notch into third after Microsoft.

“Samsung continues to set the pace in consumer technology brand leadership,” says David Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analystics.

“The firm has increased its strength in every demographic segment and each country, confirming the power and scale of the company’s marketing strategies.”

Following the Seoul-based tech giant are Sony scoring 47.8 points, Microsoft, 26.5, Apple, 22.4, HP, 19.7, and Toshiba, 18.7.

Another Korean tech firm LG ranked 7th with a rating of 18.6.

Other brands included Acer, Amazon, Blackberry, Compaq, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, and Vizio.

Chinese brands Lenovo and Huawei languished at the bottom of the Index.

The report is based on an online survey conducted in the first half of the year with 6,180 respondents aged 15 to 74 in the United States and Europe on the consumer technology brands.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)