One third of those surveyed said they will buy iPhone 5

According to Pricegrabber, of 2,852 online shoppers recently polled, thirty five percent of them plan to buy an Apple iPhone when it’s released sometime this fall. Furthermore, a full sixty nine percent of them, when asked which kind of smart phone they’d most like to receive as a gift, chose the iPhone 5, a smart phone that consumers have yet to even see.

Pricegrabber says the results are from a poll of online consumers, but doesn’t indicate if that only includes customers who visited the Pricegrabber website, which if true, would obviously offer skewed results. It might also be noted, that online consumers, as opposed to those that shop mainly via other methods (or aren’t shopping at all) are likely to be those oriented to buying a smart phone in general. Finally, according to a recent Pew report only 35% of all Americans own a smart phone of any kind, so unless they are going to all be replaced with the new iPhone, the figures quoted by Pricegrabber should be taken in a very narrow context. Still, no matter how you look at it, the results are impressive evidence of the loyalty many current iPhone owners have for the Apple brand.

Other data garnered from the study shows that of the consumers surveyed, fully fifty one percent plan to buy the iPhone 5 within the first year of its debut; thirty percent by the end of the first month, and seven percent sometime in the first week. Taking things a step further, Pricegrabber also asked those surveyed which phone OS they prefer and once again Apple won big. Forty eight percent of them chose Apple iOS, while only nineteen mentioned the Android OS. Next in line was Microsoft Windows with seven percent followed by six percent for RIM Blackberry.

Not bad for a phone line that has only been around since June of 2007.

In addition to asking consumers about which phone they want, they also asked which features they’d most like to see Apple incorporate in the next iteration of their smart phone. Most (59%) said better battery life, after that, consumerswanted to see lower cost (55%), 4G compatibility (46%), a larger display (45%) and a better camera (42%). When asked how they use their smart phones in general, the majority (88%) said for talking.

Though Apple has not said when the iPhone 5 will hit the market, most experts seem to believe it will be sometime in the fall, likely to take advantage of the holiday shopping crush. But since its Apple, no one really knows, and that’s most certainly the way the company likes it.