Over 80% of US teens are iPhone owners, according to survey

[midian182]

Are you an Android person or an Apple person? If you happen to be a teenager in the US, it seems you'll probably be in the latter camp. According to a new survey, 82 percent of teens in America now own an iPhone.

The data comes from Piper Jaffray’s bi-annual ‘Taking Stock With Teens’ survey. It asks over 6000 US teenagers, who have an average age of 16.4, from across 40 states about their spending habits and favorite brands.

The 82 percent figure is up from 78 percent last fall. Back in Spring 2014, only 60 percent of US teens owned iPhones. As you can see in the graph below, the number of owners has increased virtually every year.

Apple will be pleased to learn that their devices are so popular with US teens, especially as their numbers could soon go up—84 percent of participants say their next phone will be an iPhone. There’s also the fact that many of these young owners could form a brand loyalty to Apple that will last throughout their lives.

The popularity of the iPhone is having a positive effect on Apple’s other products, too. As noted by Business Insider, 20 percent of teens plan to buy an Apple Watch in the next six months, and Apple is the second-most desired brand among upper-income teens, beaten only by luxury watchmaker Rolex.

It might hold most of the US teen market, but Apple doesn't dominate in every area. A report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners last month showed that Android had a higher loyalty rating (91 percent) compared to iOS (86 percent). The figure measured the percentage of US customers who stayed with their operating system when upgrading their phone in 2017.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/74108-over-80-us-teens-iphone-owners-according-survey.html

 

[Ean Mogg]

Poor sods... Style over Substance.. don't they know there are phones that can do more than one thing at a time ?? lol ^_~

 

[bas416]

Poor sods... Style over Substance.. don't they know there are phones that can do more than one thing at a time ?? lol ^_~

nobody needs multitasking anyways...

 

[thelatestmodel]

Not surprising. Teens just "need" to have what's "cool" so that they fit in.

 

[ET3D]

Style over Substance..

What kind of substance you have in phones?

I'd say it's most likely compatibility. Kids like to share what they're doing, play the same games, etc., and having the same phones helps.

 

[NimbusTLD]

iPhone: the Gateway Smartphone.

 

[TomSEA]

I don't have teenage kids, but if I did, I would have to think LONG AND HARD about handing over to someone who has barely learned to tie their shoes, a $1,000 electronic device. You can get a pay-as-you-go phone for 1/10th the price (including service charges) that will provide the same functionality.

Have a co-worker whose daughter routinely drops her iPhone breaking the case requiring repairs or replacement. The mom is stupid enough to accommodate her daughter's carelessness. In fact, takes time off from work to make sure the repairs happen "quickly" because her daughter is addicted to her iPhone. I already feel sorry for the guy who's eventually going to marry that little princess.

 

[trparky]

Wow, such vitriol from the Android camp. What? Are you that insecure that you need to hate on the iPhone every time one of these articles come up?

I confess, I do have an iPhone and I like it; it does everything that I need it to do and a whole lot more. I come to these articles to have a good laugh over the hate spewed by the Android users, it's hilarious!

Android user's comments include things like "You can't do this and you can't do that", "You can't customize stuff", and other such absolute nonsense. OK, I can agree on the fact that you can't customize a lot of stuff but as for the other things my iPhone does everything that an Android does. iOS isn't holding me back in any way, shape, or form.

Oh, you can't multitask. Bullcrap. I can play music while I'm browsing in Safari. This isn't iOS 3 days guys, this is the days of the new iOS where you CAN multitask.

 

[Rippleman]

Not surprising. Teens just "need" to have what's "cool" so that they fit in.

Why do you feel iphones are cool? Every person I know that uses iphone does so because they prefer it. Suggestion: stop thinking phones are cool/uncool and just use what you prefer.

 

[Nobina]

Wow, such vitriol from the Android camp. What? Are you that insecure that you need to hate on the iPhone every time one of these articles come up?

I confess, I do have an iPhone and I like it; it does everything that I need it to do and a whole lot more. I come to these articles to have a good laugh over the hate spewed by the Android users, it's hilarious!

Android user's comments include things like "You can't do this and you can't do that", "You can't customize stuff", and other such absolute nonsense. OK, I can agree on the fact that you can't customize a lot of stuff but as for the other things my iPhone does everything that an Android does. iOS isn't holding me back in any way, shape, or form.

Oh, you can't multitask. Bullcrap. I can play music while I'm browsing in Safari. This isn't iOS 3 days guys, this is the days of the new iOS where you CAN multitask.

I actually haven't spotted any Android vs iOS battle here. As for multitasking I'm not sure that listening to music and browsing at the same time counts as multitasking. Real multitasking would be using 2 apps at the same time, like split screen that Android has, but I agree with that other guy that we don't really need multitasking on smartphones, on 5 inch phones, at least I rarely use it.

 

[trparky]

Real multitasking would be using 2 apps at the same time, like split screen that Android has

I would agree with that if the screen was bigger but to take two apps and squish them into an already smaller window is just stupid. How can you even work in that kind of environment? On a tablet, yes... I can agree that needs to be able to be done and on the iPad it can be done. But on a mobile device that's already got a smaller screen only to divide that into two? Nah... that's stupid.

I actually haven't spotted any Android vs iOS battle here.

See the comment by NumbusTLD and Ean Mogg. I'm sure that others will chime in with the usual pro-Android and anti-Apple rhetoric before too long.

 

[nismo91]

Not surprising. I kinda feel exclusive carrying LG G4 and G5 when everyone mostly holds iphone or the latest galaxy.

these phones are old but I like it when I can use the NFC to scan metro cards, sometimes use OTG to transfer large files immediately and most importantly have access to dual sim cards on each phone. each for just a fraction of iphone price.

to each his own, but for me function over form.

 

[Capaill]

Style over Substance..

What kind of substance you have in phones?

I'd say it's most likely compatibility. Kids like to share what they're doing, play the same games, etc., and having the same phones helps.

I'm also thinking compatibility is a major factor. As a teenager, if all your friends are using a specific app, then you have to too. Snobbishness may be a factor - I have zero knowledge of US teens but not being looked down on in a group is important to teens in general. Also, these teens must have access to money or have parents willing to spend for them as iPhones are without question the most expensive brand of phones on the market, even second hand. On a purely technical level, Apple has little to no advantage over other brands. So, I'm going for snobbishness / elitism (aka peer pressure), access to money and compatibility with friends apps.
Teens have always bent to peer pressure and enjoyed being in a unified ecosystem. So is their access to money growing? Because Apple phones are not getting cheaper.

 

[DelJo63]

nobody needs multitasking anyways...

If you're not the creative type. I record lectures and switch between taking videos and notes.

 

[trparky]

If you're not the creative type. I record lectures and switch between taking videos and notes.

That's what a good tablet is for. Use the tool appropriate for the job and a phone ain't it.

On a purely technical level, Apple has little to no advantage over other brands.

I disagree. From a pure software patching point of view Apple iOS is superior to Android in every way. Heck Mozilla Firefox, Windows, Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, and every other software product on the planet gets a proper software update schedule... EXCEPT ANDROID! We are living in a world in which the barbarians (hackers) are at the gate, security patches must be pushed out as fast as humanly possible. You do not wait a month, you do not wait two weeks, you do not wait a week... you get that patch out NOW!!! As soon as it's ready, you get it out!

Windows just had an update yesterday, it patched a crap ton of security flaws. This happens on a monthly basis. You can't sit there and tell me that just because Android is open source it means that it's magically more secure than Windows is. Yeah right... if anything because it's open source it means that it's got a bigger target on its back. Everyone and their cat and dog are looking for security flaws just for sport.

 

[kapital98]

Style over Substance..

What kind of substance you have in phones?

I'd say it's most likely compatibility. Kids like to share what they're doing, play the same games, etc., and having the same phones helps.

iMessenger is the hallmark of this. It works (basically) as an SMS app. It's really a foray into Apple's own collective. If you do not have iMessenger (because you don't have an iphone) then you lose many of the features. The same features that others with iMessenger expect you to have.

For teens, this would be a huge deal. Being left out of conversations (or **** talked) is not something they enjoy.

 

[Nobina]

I would agree with that if the screen was bigger but to take two apps and squish them into an already smaller window is just stupid. How can you even work in that kind of environment? On a tablet, yes... I can agree that needs to be able to be done and on the iPad it can be done. But on a mobile device that's already got a smaller screen only to divide that into two? Nah... that's stupid.

Yeah, pretty much what I said. It CAN be usefull sometimes tho, I don't think it's entirely stupid.

 

[Rippleman]

I actually haven't spotted any Android vs iOS battle here

scroll up

 

[bas416]

If you're not the creative type. I record lectures and switch between taking videos and notes.

that was meant to be a quote from a very wise man. who implemented multitasking half a year later.

 

[slamscaper]

Yeah if a teen doesn't have an iPhone he simply doesn't fit in with his friends. Macs have always been more about the brand and style than anything, even though they are incredibly easy to use and work great. Android is for those of us that want a more open environment and more powerful hardware. It's very similar to PC versus Mac in a way, although PC is even more of an open platform of course.

 

[trparky]

Open platform? You must be joking. Come to the United States and buy a phone, you'll find that most if not all Android devices sold by the carriers are just as locked down as any iPhone is due to locked boot loaders and eFuses. Then because they're locked down by the carriers in order to "protect you" you're at the mercy of the carrier to grace your device with an update which more often than not, it won't.

Yeah, I'll get an iPhone instead that I know will get a proper software update schedule.

 

[Axiarus]

If you're not the creative type. I record lectures and switch between taking videos and notes.

That's what a good tablet is for. Use the tool appropriate for the job and a phone ain't it.

On a purely technical level, Apple has little to no advantage over other brands.

I disagree. From a pure software patching point of view Apple iOS is superior to Android in every way. Heck Mozilla Firefox, Windows, Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, and every other software product on the planet gets a proper software update schedule... EXCEPT ANDROID! We are living in a world in which the barbarians (hackers) are at the gate, security patches must be pushed out as fast as humanly possible. You do not wait a month, you do not wait two weeks, you do not wait a week... you get that patch out NOW!!! As soon as it's ready, you get it out!

Windows just had an update yesterday, it patched a crap ton of security flaws. This happens on a monthly basis. You can't sit there and tell me that just because Android is open source it means that it's magically more secure than Windows is. Yeah right... if anything because it's open source it means that it's got a bigger target on its back. Everyone and their cat and dog are looking for security flaws just for sport.

My Pixel 2 updates just fine.

 

[trparky]

My Pixel 2 updates just fine.

Congratulations, you're part of a niche market. The majority of people buy a Samsung.

 

[Axiarus]

Congratulations, you're part of a niche market. The majority of people buy a Samsung.

Well, whos fault is that?

 

[trparky]

Well, whos fault is that?

Samsung's marketing is about as convincing as Apple's. Have you seen that one commercial for the new Samsung Galaxy S9? "Here's an invitation from the whole wide world. To your brother, to your sister, to your best friend's girl." I've seen that commercial so many times I can recite it from memory despite how annoying it is. That kind of marketing is some seriously powerful stuff. People will see that commercial and instantly think "I want a Samsung."

Combine that with the amount of marketing that's in your typical carrier store and it's no wonder why people buy a Samsung over any other Android device. Period.

Samsung's marketing engine is so darn powerful that in the eyes of many people Samsung equals Android, Android equals Samsung. It's quite literally that simple.