87% of US Teens Own an iPhone — and 88% Said Their Next One will be an iPhone, Too

In its semi-annual Taking Stock with Teens fall survey, investment bank Piper Sandler found that 87% of teens in America own an iPhone — and 88% expect their next smartphone will be also an iPhone.

The latest survey polled 9,193 teens with an average age of 15.7 (54% male, 45% female) and an average annual household income of almost $71,000. Despite the variety of Android phones available from multiple manufacturers, Gen Z, aka the “yutes” (according to My Cousin Vinny), appear to be Apple loyalists.

The survey also revealed a couple more arrows in Apple’s quiver: 34% of teens own an Apple Watch, and Apple Pay is the leading payment app among the age group with 42% of respondents using it. Cash App is a distant second at 27%.

Apple is undoubtedly pleased with these results. Surveys like this most certainly influence Apple’s product development roadmap and sales projections. According to Statista, there were 25.8 million children in America between the ages of 12 and 18 in 2022. Based on this number, nearly 22.5 million teens have iPhones and 9 million have an Apple Watch.

Apple stock has increased in value by 50% this year. On more than one occasion, Apple closed trading with a market cap (the total value of its outstanding shares) of over 3 trillion dollars. With numbers like this combined with enormous room for growth in international markets like India, we expect Apple’s value to increase even more in the coming years.

What’s a stereotypical snapshot of a teen according to Piper Sandler? Picture a 15-year-old with their parent’s credit card loaded into their Apple Pay, an iPhone in their pocket, and an Apple Watch on their wrist, drinking a Monster energy drink with a VR headset on while trying to decide if they should grab their Nikes and head to Sephora, and maybe pick up some Chick-fil-A on the way. Thanks to Piper Sandler we no longer need gift guides.