While Samsung’s smartphone sales may be falling, those who are buying its devices couldn’t be happier with them. In a new satisfaction study, the South Korean electronics giant beat even Apple to the top spot of the smartphone category, while Nokia ranked higher than BlackBerry, LG, and even HTC.

Samsung has received lots of criticism for its flagship Galaxy S5, which still employs an all-plastic design while rivals like Apple, HTC, and Sony are using more premium materials like aluminum and glass. But despite all that, the Galaxy S5 and its siblings still manage to pick up glowing reviews — not only from the media, but consumers as well, it seems.

Samsung scored 81 points on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which is made up of survey data from more than 70,000 participants. That’s a nice improvement over last year’s score of 76, and it helped the company overtake Apple, which dropped two points over the past 12 months for a score of 79.

It’s surprising to see Apple dropped points, but it’s worth noting that the larger iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus — which both offer big improvements over the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c — weren’t released until September. Prior to that, Apple was still being bashed for not responding to the demand for a larger iPhone.

Nokia, which actually sold its handset business to Microsoft earlier this year, was ranked third alongside Motorola — with both companies picking up scores of 77. HTC ranked just below them with a score of 75, which narrowly beat BlackBerry’s score of 74, and LG’s score of 73.

With BlackBerry seemingly on its last legs as it struggles to persuade consumers to switch from rival platforms to BlackBerry 10, you may be surprised to see the Canadian company ranked so highly. But we should remember that the majority of those who are still buying BlackBerry devices are long-time fans who still appreciate the company’s products.

• SourceACSI
• ViaEngadget