iPhone is still the top smartphone choice for teenagers

iPhone 14 Pro

The results of the semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey has been released by Piper Sandler, detailing the desires and buying habits affecting teenagers across the United States. As usual, it's one that shows Apple is seen in a very positive light by the young adults.

According to the survey, 87% of teens owned an iPhone, with 88% intending to purchase another. Piper Sandler call these near record highs in the survey.

The results are deemed encouraging for Apple, since elevated penetration and intention are important in a mature premium smartphone market. They're also encouraging as Apple continues to introduce new iPhones, and it "proves the overall stickiness of the product portfolio."

Teen ownership of smartwatches is up to 41% against 37% one year prior, and again, Apple is part of the reason for the increase. Apple Watch ownership is at 35%, up from 31% in the fall.

Intention to buy an Apple Watch rose slightly, with 15% planning to buy one in the next six months against 14% from Spring 2022. Apple also remains the favorite watch brand among upper-income teens, though it has dropped to 39% from 47% in the fall 2022 survey.

Apple Pay is considered the top payment app for teens, with the highest penetration of users at 39%. This is followed by Cash App with 25%, then Venmo at 23%.

On to services, and approximately 41% of iPhone or Apple users surveyed said they use or plan to use iCloud+ Private Relay to increase their privacy. Approximately 24% say they currently do, which is up from 22% seen in both the first and second half of 2022 surveys.

Apple Music isn't the most-used music streaming service according to the survey, with 36.4% saying they had used it over the last six months, while 68.1% said they had used Spotify. It appears that 44% of the respondents also used multiple services.

When it comes to actually paying for subscriptions, 80% said they paid for at least one music streaming service. Though Spotify leads with 44.3% saying they paid for a subscription against 31.5% for Apple Music, Piper Sandler notices that Apple Music has a "higher percentage of payers," which is suspected to be partly due to being tied into a bundle, such as Apple One.

The survey polled 5,690 teenagers in 47 states with an average age of 16.2 years. Approximately 40% of teens surveyed were employed on a part-time basis. The average household income of polled families was $67,691.