iPhone still coveted by teens, but other Apple products not so much

AppleInsider

Teenagers overwhelmingly continue to want their next smartphone to be an iPhone, a survey about the youth of America's spending habits reveals.

A pair of iPhones

Apple's products are a highly popular collection on the market, and that is especially so for teenagers in the United States. In a regular "Taking Stock of Teens" survey commissioned by analysts at Piper Sandler, the spring 2025 edition demonstrates that the iPhone is still very close to the heart of young U.S. consumers.

Approximately 88% of teenage respondents said they own an iPhone. This is up from the 85% figure reported in the same survey one year ago.

A graph of teenage iPhone ownership, and intentions to buy one - Image Credit: Piper Sandler

The intent to purchase an iPhone for their next mobile device was also a record high at 88%. Piper Sandler also adds that 25% of the teens queried also expected to upgrade to an iPhone 17 in the fall or winter, up from 22% in the year-ago survey.

The largely static figure indicates that the iPhone is still a highly coveted and essential item for the average teenage consumer.

Away from iPhone

While teenagers are very much favoring iPhones, Apple seemingly doesn't fare as well elsewhere in the survey.

When it comes to virtual reality, about 31% of teenagers own a VR headset of some form. However, 25% of teens use Oculus while 1% use Apple Vision Pro, and a further 1% have access to headsets from both brands.

Those who have headsets are also reducing their usage of them. About 60% say they own a VR device but seldom use it, up from the 50% mark in Fall 2022.

For streaming, Apple TV+ is viewed by just 1% of teenagers, a continuing trend for the service over the years. On the other end of the scale, Netflix is continuing to erode users from YouTube, with the subscription streamer now at 31% versus 26% for Alphabet's video service.

Apple Music versus Spotify - Image Credit: Piper Sandler

Things are better for the Cupertino tech giant when it comes to Apple Music. When asked what streaming services have been used by teens in the last six months, 34% say they used Apple Music, keeping the music streamer in second place and relatively flat in market share.

First place continues to go to Spotify with 65%, with YouTube Music third with 17%.

When the question turns to which services teenagers have subscribed to or paid for over the same reason, the gap between Spotify and Apple shrinks a bit. Apple Music is at 30% here, while Spotify is at 45%.

It seems there's still a large proportion of Spotify users still using the free tier of the service.

Instagram, Roblox, spending

The survey polled 6,455 teenagers across 43 states, with an average respondent age of 16.2 years. As a survey covering many areas of a teenager's spending habits and lifestyles, there are other areas that the survey covers.

When it comes to social media, TikTok is the favorite social media platform with a 47% share, with Instagram down a small amount with 28%. But, when it comes to the highest social media engagement, Instagram leads with 87% while TikTok is at 79%.

The survey also discussed Roblox, which is still popular with 42% actively playing it at least once a month.

As for the ultimate question of how much teenagers spend, the level has gone up 6% year-on-year to $2,388 per annum, which is also up 1% from the fall 2024 survey.

The highest spending category is clothing at 20%, followed by video games and systems and personal care with a 9% share apiece. Spending on electronics and gadgets is at 6%.



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To be fair, teens often make little money if they work (minimum wage in the US is a particularly cruel joke), so their iPhones are often part and parcel of their family's carrier plan most of the time.

So for almost any other Apple hardware beyond AirPods, you're not likely to get much spending by teens on other Apple products unless they are from a rich family, and/or a highly Apple-centric family.

Even in those families, teens are likely to go for a cheaper VR headset because a) more titles and b) the VR market isn't mature enough to warrant a $3,500 purchase unless you have a very specific need for specific software that runs on that platform.

It would be interesting to see what people in their early 20s -- the college years, and/or those who have full-time jobs -- go for. I suspect you'd see more interest in Macs (specifically the notebooks).

As for the showing of the Apple Music service, it's doing far better than I would have guessed it was against Spotify's relentless advertising blitz. Apple should counter this by pointing out that 2.5 times as much of your subscription money on average goes to pay the artists than it does on Spotify. That's a message that might penetrate.