A Gen Z survey shows that 87 percent of U.S. teens own an iPhone

The latest Piper Sandler Teen Survey shows that the proportion of iPhone use continues to rise, and the popularity of Apple Watch and Apple Pay is also rising. Analyst firm Piper Sandler surveys U.S. teens about twice a year show that iPhone ownership has risen 1 percent to 87 percent since the last report.

Meanwhile, the new data claims that 88 percent of teens say their next phone will also be an iPhone, down 1 percent from the last report.

"The 87 percent iPhone ownership rate and the 88 percent iPhone purchase intent metric are close to the all-time highs we surveyed," Harsh Kumar and Chris Donat, managing directors of Piper Sandler, wrote in the full report. "We believe that the increase in penetration and intention is very important for a mature high-end smartphone market."

"In addition, these trends are encouraging as companies continue to roll out new 5G iPhones," the report continues, "which could provide an important product cycle update." We believe these positive trends can also be a catalyst for further service growth, as the adoption base for Apple's hardware continues to grow. "

The survey also said that 15% of teens intend to buy an Apple Watch in the next 6 months, compared to 13% in the spring 2021 report. The Apple Watch is now the most popular watch brand, with 39 percent of teens saying it's their favorite, surpassing Rolex, which is now 35 percent. The actual ownership rate of the Apple Watch is 30%, compared to 25% in the fall 2021 survey.

The vast majority of teens surveyed are used to paying with cash, though Apple Pay ranks second among all electronic payment alternatives, with 85 percent using cash in the last month, up from 83 percent this time last year.

Last month, 35 percent used Apple Pay, while 22 percent used PayPal and 4 percent used Google Pay.

"While we were somewhat surprised by the penetration of cash among teens," the report said, "we think this is the result of 35 percent of teens surveyed not having a traditional bank account." We expect that as teens age, they will graduate from electronic payment methods such as Apple Pay, PayPal and others," the report continues.

Piper Sandler compiled the report based on a survey of 10,000 teenagers in 44 U.S. states. This 42nd survey was conducted between August 17 and September 16, 2021.