iPhone remains the top smartphone for teenagers, says Piper Sandler

AppleInsider

Investment bank Piper Sandler's latest survey of teenagers in America shows that the popularity of Apple's iPhone hasn't been affected by the economic downturn.

iPhone 15 Pro

For its latest report, Piper Sandler surveyed 9,193 teenagers across the US, aged 15.7 years old, and while its results show differences since the last one, they don't for Apple.

In the last survey in April 2023, 87% of teenagers owned an iPhone, and 88% said they intended to buy another. For the new October 2023 report, those figures are exactly the same.

There is a difference in smartphone ownership, though. In April, 35% of those surveyed had an Apple Watch, which was itself up from 31% the previous October.

For October 2023, the figure is down to 34% of US teenagers owning an Apple Watch. If the survey's respondents are an accurate representation of the country, 34% ownership would mean US-wide there were around 14 million Apple Watches in use by teenagers.

Apple can also be pleased with the result of the survey asking about payment apps. Apple Pay ranked first in the new report, with 42% of respondents having used it in the month before they were asked.

Piper Sandler infographic about its latest survey

And 31% of teenagers now own a VR device, which is up from 29% in April 2023. However, actual usage of VR devices declined from around 14% to around 10%.

For this report, Piper Sandler undertook its survey between September 4, 2023, and September 27, so chiefly before the iPhone 15 range was available. Its 9,192 teens surveyed lived across 49 US states.

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appleish

I was mainly interested in girls as a teen. Most of my disposable income went towards date money, gas for the car (for dates), records (played for dates and girlfriends), and condoms (for steady girlfriends). I had a nice stereo, but my Mom bought me that. I would hope I would have wanted an iPhone, but my Mom would have had to pay for it, as I was mainly interested in girls.

mayfly

Appleish said:

I was mainly interested in girls as a teen. Most of my disposable income went towards date money, gas for the car (for dates), records (played for dates and girlfriends), and condoms (for steady girlfriends). I had a nice stereo, but my Mom bought me that. I would hope I would have wanted an iPhone, but my Mom would have had to pay for it, as I was mainly interested in girls.

You write like a 40-something incel.

honkers

They found 9,193 teenagers across the US aged exactly 15.7 years old?

appleish

mayfly said:

Appleish said:

I was mainly interested in girls as a teen. Most of my disposable income went towards date money, gas for the car (for dates), records (played for dates and girlfriends), and condoms (for steady girlfriends). I had a nice stereo, but my Mom bought me that. I would hope I would have wanted an iPhone, but my Mom would have had to pay for it, as I was mainly interested in girls.

You write like a 40-something incel.

I was mostly just goofing on teens. I'm far past 40.

chasm

With only 37 percent of teens in this survey having a (part time) job, I think we know who’s buying these devices — but presumably they are getting what the teens are asking for, so this is still a valid indicator of popularity.

I feel bad for the kids that got Android phones — apart from the ones who got a Foldable, the rest probably got some mid-range piece o’ crap that Dad said was just as good as an iPhone and doesn’t cost as much. Thankfully I was well out of high school by the time smartphones became a thing.