Gen Z survey says 87% of US teenagers own an iPhone

The latest Piper Sandler teen survey shows that iPhone use has gone up, as has the popularity of the Apple Watch, and Apple Pay.

Analyst firm Piper Sandler's approximately twice yearly survey of teenagers in America shows that iPhone ownership is up 1% to 87% since its last report. At the same time, the new figures claim 88% of teenagers say their next phone will be an iPhone, which is down 1% from the last report.

"Both the 87% iPhone ownership and 88% intention to purchase an iPhone metrics are near record highs for our survey," write Harsh Kumar and Chris Donat, managing directors of Piper Sandler, in the full report."We view the elevated penetration and intention are important for a maturing premium smartphone market."

"In addition, these trends are encouraging as the company continues to introduce new 5G iPhones," continues the report, "which could provide a significant product cycle refresh. We think these positive trends can also be a catalyst for further services growth as well, as the install base for Apple hardware continues to grow."

The survey also says that 15% of teenagers intend to buy an Apple Watch in the next six months, compared to 13% in the spring 2021 report. Apple Watch is now the most liked watch brand with 39% of teenagers saying it is their favorite, unseating Rolex which is now on 35%.

Actual ownership of Apple Watch was 30% compared to 25% in the fall 2021 survey.

US teenage iPhone ownership (Source: Piper Sandler)

Teenagers surveyed overwhelmingly used cash to pay for items, though of all the alternatives, Apple Pay was second. Cash had been used in the last month by 85% of teenagers, up from 83% this time last year.

Apple Pay was used by 35% in the last month, compared to 22% PayPal, and 4% Google Pay.

"While we are somewhat surprised by the cash penetration among teens," says the report, "we believe it is a function of 35% of teens surveyed not having a traditional bank account."

"We expect as teenagers get older, they will graduate to electronic payments methods such as Apple Pay, PayPal, and others," it continues.

Piper Sandler compiled its report from a survey of 10,000 teenagers across 44 US states. This 42nd survey was conducted between August 17, 2021, and September 16, 2021.

Latest Exclusives

Latest comparisons

10 Comments

badmonk 1332 comments · 11 Years

About 2 years ago

I can vouch for this in my extended family, the only android owners are middle aged to elderly and the teens are avid Apple device users and surprisingly militant towards the last few android holdouts (which use to be my role but I have mellowed in my later years).

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

I fondly remember the pontificatioms a few years ago that said the iPhone was not cool anymore and that teenagers were abandoning it for Android.

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

That's what I see with my grandson and his friends -- they ALL have iPhones. And all of them are fairly new. I only know of one with an ancient Xr (like me -- which I got from my grandson when he upgraded to a 12 pro).

The reasons are clear. It's not the hardware. It's what they do:

1) FaceTime -- especially in the winter, that's the gathering place with many group chats. Some even use it for gaming on the XBox where their partner will be on FaceTime.

2) Group chats using iMessage

3) Airpods

4) AppleCash has replaced hard currency for them. It has fully replaced cash. None of them carry wallets or any cards but their iPhone is ALWAYS with them. And, with AppleCash parents can fund them anytime, anywhere: if they are out somewhere with friends and need money for food, movies or shopping they can be sent money instantaneously. This summer I ran into my grandson while I was out running on a biking trail and sent him Apple Cash from my AppleWatch. they can even use it online. And, they can share it between themselves by sending money to their friends.

5) TikTok and other social media which they share with each other via iMessages.

The iPhone is part of what it means to be a teenager these days. I can't imagine a teenager without one -- They would sooner go without shoes than an iPhone.

apple4thewin 290 comments · 3 Years

Being a Gen Z I completely understand the love of Apple products, although I only know 1 person that has a rolex and that’s because their grandfather gave his as a gift. Rolex are useless to Gen Z.

Kuyangkoh 838 comments · 7 Years

Agreed with the survey…..my kids all have iPhones, air pods & ipads…apple pay was not my favorite cause my debit card was being used there. Huhuhu BUT true reflection survey indeed.