A new survey conducted by CNBC has found that 64 percent of Americans own an Apple product of some kind, a number that's increased from 50 percent in a similar survey published in 2012. The average American household owns 2.6 Apple products, which is "up by a full Apple product" from the previous survey. The All-America Economic Survey polled 800 people across the United States in late September, and CNBC said that the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Apple device ownership rates dip below 50 percent in the 2017 survey for Americans with incomes under $30,000, retirees, and women over the age of 50. CNBC reported that the "wealthiest Americans" own 4.7 Apple products per household, while the "poorest" have one. Other statistics include 3.7 devices per household in the West of the United States, while households in the South owned 2.2 devices on average.
"I cannot think of any other product — especially any other product at a high price point — that has that kind of permeation with the public and level of growth,'' said Jay Campbell, pollster with Hart Research, which conducted the survey along with Public Opinion Strategies.
64 percent of those surveyed claimed that the time they spend on an iPhone is "mostly productive and useful," while 27 percent said that it's "mostly unproductive." On average, the time spent on an iPhone was "dominated" by phone calls, emails, and texting, followed by social media. Most Americans surveyed said that they were less likely to spend time watching videos, playing games, and shopping on their iPhone.
Campbell said it could be people are understating how much they use their phones for entertainment and how much time they waste. "But overall," he said, "it continues to be the case that the smartphone is really helping the American worker, helping the American family be efficient with their time and really accomplish more than they could otherwise and I think people recognize and appreciate that."
In a separate study conducted by Piper Jaffray earlier in 2017, it was found that 76 percent of teens polled owned an iPhone, increasing from 69 percent in the same period a year prior. 81 percent of teens also said that they plan to purchase an iPhone as their next smartphone, up from 75 percent in 2016. Piper Jaffray's survey polled 5,500 teens in the United States with the average age of 16.
