78% of Teens Surveyed Own an iPhone, 82% Plan to Purchase

The iPhone's popularity among teens continues to grow, according to new data gathered by investment firm Piper Jaffray for the fall edition of its semiannual U.S. teen survey.

78 percent of teens surveyed own an iPhone, up two percent from the spring 2017 survey conducted earlier this year. 82 percent of teens said their next smartphone will be an iPhone, the highest amount of interest ever noted in one of these surveys.

teeniphoneownership
This jump in interest can perhaps be attributed to the 2017 iPhone lineup, which includes the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge display and a TrueDepth camera for facial recognition purposes.

Teen interest in the Apple Watch is also up, and 17 percent of teens surveyed said they plan to buy an Apple Watch in the next six months, up from 13 percent in spring 2017.

teensurveyapplewatch
Piper Jaffray says the survey is a "positive point" on iPhone 8 demand and iPhone X demand, and increasing interested in the Apple Watch.

teensurveymusic
Apple Music also made an appearance in the survey, gaining share alongside Spotify and YouTube as teens move away from streaming services like Pandora.

On-demand music services like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music (30%, 20%, and 17%) continue to gain market share among teens, as more traditional platforms and Pandora continue to lose share.

Piper Jaffray's fall 2017 teen survey covered 6,100 teens across 44 states in the United States with an average age of 15.9 years.

Popular Stories

space black mbp

Apple Potentially Facing Worst Leak Since iPhone 4 Was Left in a Bar

Monday October 7, 2024 3:03 pm PDT by
Alleged photos and videos of an unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip continue to surface on social media, in what could be the worst product leak for Apple since an employee accidentally left an iPhone 4 prototype at a bar in California in 2010. The latest video of what could be a next-generation MacBook Pro was shared on YouTube Shorts today by Russian channel Romancev768, just...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Tuesday October 8, 2024 5:45 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
iPad mini review thumb

iPad Mini 7 Coming Next Month: What to Expect

Tuesday October 8, 2024 6:16 am PDT by
Rumors strongly suggest Apple will release the seventh-generation iPad mini in November, nearly three years after the last refresh. Here's a roundup of what we're expecting from the next version of Apple's small form factor tablet, based on the latest rumors and reports. Design and Display The new iPad mini is likely to retain its compact 8.3-inch display and overall design introduced with...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

Waiting for a New Apple TV? Here's What the Latest Rumors Say

Tuesday October 8, 2024 8:57 am PDT by
The current Apple TV was released two years ago this month, so you may be wondering when the next model will be released. Below, we recap rumors about a next-generation Apple TV. In January 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that a new Apple TV was planned for release in the first half of 2024:Beyond the future smart displays and new speaker, Apple is working on revamping its TV box....
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.1 Beta 6

Monday October 7, 2024 4:27 pm PDT by
We're nearing the end of the iOS 18.1 beta testing process, but Apple is continuing to make tweaks to refine built-in features ahead of when the software launches. With testing winding down, there are fewer new additions, but Apple has made changes worth noting. The new beta is available for both developers and public beta testers. Control Center In the Control Center, Apple has added new...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.1 With Apple Intelligence: New Features, Release Date, and More

Thursday October 10, 2024 8:26 am PDT by
iOS 18.1 will be released to the public in the coming weeks, and the software update introduces the first Apple Intelligence features for the iPhone. Below, we outline when to expect iOS 18.1 to be released. iOS 18.1: Apple Intelligence Features Here are some of the key Apple Intelligence features in the iOS 18.1 beta so far: A few Siri enhancements, including improved understanding...
m4 macbook pro leak russian ad

Leaked M4 MacBook Pro Appears for Sale on Russian Classifieds Site

Wednesday October 9, 2024 2:05 am PDT by
In a continuation of the latest unprecedented leak, Apple's yet-to-be-announced M4 MacBook Pro has reportedly surfaced on Avito, a popular Russian classified ads website. The development follows recent videos from Russian YouTube channels showcasing what appears to be the unreleased laptop model. According to reports on social media, the listing on Avito advertised a 14-inch MacBook Pro...

Top Rated Comments

0007776 Avatar
91 months ago
Are that many kids parents actually buying them new phones? I get handing your old iPhone down, but I have a hard time imagining that that many parents are willing to spend $1000 on a phone for their kid to check Facebook.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Candlelight Avatar
91 months ago
"Son, you need to learn the importance of money. Now here's your new iphone which cost me a month's salary".
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BoneCollector Avatar
91 months ago
It's almost exclusively due to herd mentality -- people at that age especially want to fit in and not be missing out (making sure they have the same platform for iMessage, apps, etc).
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrX8503 Avatar
91 months ago
I wish I had a phone at all when I was a teen. My parents never bought me a phone growing up and now that I'm an adult, I bought my mom an iPhone. Imagine that.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
91 months ago
It's hard to believe these surveys that tell us X% of the population is switching to iPhone. If that were true, why does Android continue to take the biggest share of the mobile market?
Survey is to U.S. Teens only. There's an awful lot of NON U.S. Teens in the world, and an awful lot of people in the world living OUTSIDE the U.S.

Stats like "own an iPhone" is likely counting plenty of old, ancient, hand-me-down iPhones (as many posts in this thread support too). Owning an iPhone 4, 5, 6, 7 doesn't show up as new sales in market share measurements in the present. In other words, the market share reports are generally measuring & comparing present sales (over the last quarter or maybe over the last year), not counting old unit sales too (even those in use). I bet if they asked the same group of teens if they own an iPod, the percentage that own one would also be very large... and Apple quit selling them how long ago?

Not long ago, Apple themselves announced that they had sold their 1 billionth iPhone. Does that mean that 1 billion people in the world own an iPhone? No. How many iPhones have you owned? Each of those count. How many people around here have bought an iPhone every other year in the last 10? Every year? How many old iPhones in that tally are retired to a drawer? Or dumped into a landfill? Or long-since recycled? Spin can sound good. Dig deeper.

This survey is conducted by a firm that is a consistent Apple Fan. Can we really trust that it is an unbiased & objective survey? Survey- say- only Republicans about what they think of the Democratic platform and the numbers being against will be dramatic. Extrapolate that out to be able to imply that almost all Americans are against Democratic party ideals. Do the same with passionate Democrats and see the opposite outcome. Extrapolate that out to almost all Americans and apparently all Americans are against Republican ideals. Survey Pepsi people about Coke. Or Coke people about Pepsi. Survey Apple People about Windows and then Windows people about Apple. Magically, targeted (biased) surveys can yield impressive results to support a desired outcome or message. Note: I'm no insider at Piper, so this could be a completely unbiased survey, but Piper really pushes Apple (AAPL)- when have you ever seen a bearish call on AAPL by Piper? Can they do a survey that is unbiased when they are such fans (and consistency pushing the stock)?

This survey asked kids averaging 16 years old what do they have and what do they want. Odds are high that if any of them are getting new iPhones, it's parents buying them for them. When one is not actually having to earn the money to buy that something they say they want, it's pretty easy to wish for all kinds of stuff that you may never actually buy. For example, survey a bunch of young guys about what car they want and some will probably want a Lambo. Extrapolate that out and you can report that some surprisingly high percentage of all American young men want a Lambo. Then check back in 5 or 10 years later with them and see how many actually bought one.

Price can override wishing & hoping (with no money). If the 'rents give Junior/Juniette an Android instead, does the kid reject a new cell phone or maybe whine a little and then roll with it? Think back to when you were 16 and asked your parents for bigger (cost) things- maybe new car. Did they buy you the car you wanted? Latest & greatest new? Or did you maybe get some other, lessor & used car? Did you reject a car because you only wanted the specific one you coveted? Or did you take the one they purchased for you (because you probably were not out making the money to buy the one you longed for).

Lastly, Android is the OS driving all kinds of phones. iOS is exclusive to just a few models. That market share "war"(?) is long since lost, just as the computing OS share was dramatically lost when Microsoft licensed Windows to everyone while Apple opted to keep it's OS exclusively to it's own computer line. There's tons of phones (and computers) priced far below Apple products running Android (and Windows). Price rules for many, many consumers, here in the U.S. and with the approx. >95% of the people NOT living in the U.S. (and thus not counted in this survey).
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rjohnstone Avatar
91 months ago
Are that many kids parents actually buying them new phones? I get handing your old iPhone down, but I have a hard time imagining that that many parents are willing to spend $1000 on a phone for their kid to check Facebook.
Mine got a hand me down for her first one, and iPhone 4.
She then got a 5S (she paid for the phone, I covered the plan) and later and SE.
No way I'm handing a teenager a $1k phone. She broke the screen on the 5S and had to live with it until it was paid off.
She learned her lesson on the 5S and now has insurance on the SE.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)