Twice a year,
brokerage firm Piper Sandler conducts a survey among teens in an attempt to get their fingers on the pulse of this age group. Among the 5,200 teens who took part in the survey, the most popular smartphone was the Apple iPhone. And putting the teens’ money (or their parents’ money) where their mouth is, 85% of the teenagers who participated in the questioning presently own an iPhone; this was the highest percentage of iPhone ownership in the history of the survey and is “a sign that Apple’s place as a dominant device brand among teens remains well intact.”
Two years ago, 82% of the teens in the survey said that they owned an iPhone and that number hit 83% last year.
88% of those surveyed said that their next phone is going to be an iPhone, a record for the survey. The number of teens planning on purchasing an Android handset dropped from the 10% seen during the survey taken six months ago, to 8%.
The teens also said in the latest survey that the
Apple Watch was their favorite smartwatch as 25% of the teens said that they own one, up from last fall’s reading of 20%. Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar, in a research note written to clients, also reached a conclusion based on the teens’ strong interest in the wireless Bluetooth
AirPods. Kumar wrote that the teens’ interest in the in-ear accessory reveals “the already strong attach rate and solid purchase intent” in products from Apple outside their main mobile and computer lines. In fact, both the Apple Watch and the AirPods are part of the company’s fastest-growing business unit, Wearables, Home and Accessories. The latter has reported year-over-year revenue growth of 54% and 37% over the last two fiscal quarters. 52% of the surveyed teens admitted to owning a pair of AirPods and 18% said that they don’t the device now but plan on purchasing a pair within the next 12 months.
Not surprisingly, the teens in the survey selected the Apple Watch as their favorite smartwatch
The survey also discovered a slight decline in Netflix usage by teens. Those responding to the survey say that they are spending 33% of their time streaming video content from the platform down from the 35% spent viewing Netflix in the fall. YouTube usage among teens declined during the same time period. Disney+ made it into the top five ahead of Amazon and Apple TV+.
Instagram was the favorite social media destination for these teens with Snapchat second and short-form video app TikTok in third. Teens apparently aren’t that fond of the political battles on Twitter, which placed fourth in the survey, followed by Facebook.
Erinn Murphy, Piper Sandler’s senior research analyst, said, “Our Spring Teen Survey was conducted during a time of significant upheaval as the world (and U.S. teens) grappled with the realities of COVID-19. In fact, we believe the majority of our responses came from teens taking the survey from their own homes. Not only was ‘Coronavirus’ listed as the No. 2 social/political concern among teens, but we saw a significant uptick of teens worried about the economy along with a corresponding 13% drop in ‘self-reported’ spending versus just last year.”
“Today’s teens are more connected than ever before—they spend an average of 12 hours on social media per week, 53% name Amazon as their top e-commerce site, Netflix is their go-to choice for daily content & 85% own an iPhone. As it relates to brand preferences, we continue to see casualization of fashion march higher—Nike gained share as the No. 1 brand & lululemon hit a new survey high as the No. 6 preferred brand.”
The average age of the 5,200 teens surveyed was 16.2 years old and the average household income was $65,600.
