Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone maker by sales volume, took the top spot on a customer satisfaction index in 2014, beating its archrival Apple, the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, a U.S.-based private research firm, said Wednesday.

Samsung scored 81 in the ACSI’s annual report for consumer satisfaction, a 6.6 percent increase from 76 last year. Its competitor Apple saw its score slide by 2.5 points on-year to 79, yielding the top spot to the Seoul-based tech giant. 

The research firm surveyed 70,000 consumers in the U.S. over the last year.

Some market analysts claimed that the California-based Apple lost some of its luster as it failed to offer various smartphone features, including a waterproof smartphone case, on the firm’s latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They also said Apple’s attempt to attract customers with bigger displays on its iPhones was less effective than expected.

They said the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4, on the other hand, were able to appeal to customers with features such as a water-resistant body, cameras with crisp picture quality and high-definition displays.

Samsung’s local rival LG Electronics, which is said to have created growth momentum with its flagship G3 in 2014, scored 73, following other global manufacturers such as Nokia (77), Motorola (77), HTC (75) and BlackBerry (74).

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