The future US workforce is already all-in on Apple – report

What does it mean when most teenagers already use your products and nearly all of them would buy them again? Common sense says it means a company in that position can bank on future sales. I guess that’s what’s happening at Apple.

US teenagers are already 87% iPhone

You see, Piper Sandler is out with its latest survey of teen consumer habits. It finds 87% of teenagers across the US already own an iPhone, and shows that 88% of these happy Apple customers plan to purchase another in future. This is consistent. The last survey from the same company revealed exactly the same data in April.

The survey also showed that 34% of teens use an Apple Watch (up from 30% in 2021). Back of the envelope calculations assess that as around 14 million users. Apple Pay is also the top ranked mobile payment service.

One thing Apple may want to push harder on is Apple Music.

The survey shows 70% of teens have used Spotify across the last six months, with 46% of them subscribing to the Apple Music competitor.

Interestingly, 31% of US teens now own a VR device. Sadly, most sit unused and dusty in teen bedrooms. Weekly usage of VR devices declined to ~10% from ~14% in spring ’23.

Will Vision Pro change things?

Probably.

What about social concerns?

The environment is the biggest worry teenagers have today.

“Our survey points to initial signs of a slowdown in teen spending. Inflation reached its highest mindshare in terms of political and social issues, right behind the environment,” Piper Sandler says.

But what this staggering array of stats really means is that Apple continues to hold the attention of US teenagers.

Foundations for the future

That’s a very good thing for Apple. It promises at least three positive outcomes:

1. As they grow, teenagers will stick with Apple’s brand, implying future sales and services signups.
2. As these young people enter the workplace, they will choose Apple’s ecosystems in employee choice schemes.
3. Apple can parlay positive loyalty to support future product innovations in health, wearables, AR, and transport.

Piper Sandler’s Taking Stock With Teens survey is a semi-annual research project. It gathers input from 9,193 teens with an average age of 15.7 years. It explores spending patterns, fashion trends, technology, brand and media preferences. Since launch in 2001, Piper Sandler has surveyed over 248,283 teens.

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