Although it sometimes seems like every teen has an iPhone, we are not quite there, according to new research. Some 48 percent of teens say they own the Apple smartphone with 62 percent expecting to buy an iPhone as their next handset.
The 48 percent of teen-owned iPhones is up from 40 percent registered during fall 2012, according to Piper Jaffray’s 25th bi-annual teen survey. Meanwhile, just over 20 percent of teens surveyed said they either own or plan to purchase a smartphone powered by Google’s Android mobile operating software…
Nearly 60 percent of teens said they likely will buy an iOS device, according to the study (PDF.)
Although the percentage of teens who said they own an iPhone is up from 40 percent found last fall, the 62 percent who said they plan to buy an iPhone and the 59 percent who told surveyors they will likely purchase an iOS device was flat compared to 2012, according to the survey results released Tuesday.
Reported interest in Android smartphones saw an increase, although only slight. Some 23 percent of the teens polled said they will likely buy an Android phone, up from 22 percent. Just over one-fifth of the survey participants (21 percent) say they will buy an Android device, up from 20 percent during the fall 2012 study.
While there may be a cooling interest in the iPhone, the opposite is the case for Apple’s iPad. More than half (51 percent) of teens surveyed said they own the tablet, up from 44 percent in the fall.
Despite Apple’s share of the tablet market slipping to 68 percent from 72 percent, a strong 68 percent of teens questioned said they plan to buy an iPad. The full-size iPad is the clear choice: 54 percent of the teens said they plan to buy the larger tablet, while 14 percent said they prefer the smaller iPad mini.
All in all, the Apple brand has not lost its attraction for teens.
Another trend seen in the teen survey results: smartphones now dominate purchase plans. Some 91 percent of teens surveyed reported they intend to buy a smartphone. That’s compared to a slim 9 percent of teens who are sticking to simpler feature phones.
The Piper Jaffray survey included 1,600 teens from households with incomes of $104,000, while 3,600 teens polled were from households with income of $54,000.