US kids love Apple Watch, use Apple Pay and most own iPhone

U.S. teenagers love the Apple Watch, use Apple Pay and most have an iPhone a new Piper Sandler survey shows. Around 30% of U.S. teenagers now own an Apple Watch, it said.

Apple’s teenage hearts and minds

As first reported by Apple 3.0, researchers spoke with 9,800 teenagers across 48 U.S. states to take stock on what they were thinking.

In the background they identified real social concerns among so many. Almost half (48%) of teens think the economy is getting worse, 18% eat plant-based meat. These young people are concerned about racial equality, the environment and the democratic process.

Within this bleak outlook, the survey also shows that 86% of the nearly 10k teens surveyed own an iPhone. Not only this, but 89% expect an iPhone to be their next phone, both all-time survey highs. When it comes to iPhone 13, 22% of teenagers expect to upgrade to one this year. iPhone 12 ownership increased to 20% while ownership of iPhones over two years old fell 12%.

What they are doing

US teens use these devices to access their most-used social media platforms, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram. What snacks do U.S. teens prefer? It’s the cheese: top snacks in order of preference: Lays, Goldfish, Cheez-it, Dorritos and Cheetos.

Apple on the wrist

The survey tells us that 35 percent of teens use a smartwatch and Apple now has an 86 percent market share among teen smartwatch owners. Apple Watch has become more popular than Rolex for the first time. And 30% of teens use fitness apps with AirPods used by 67%.

Interesting to note that Apple Pay has broken through also. It has become the second most popular payment method after cash. These digitally savvy kids are concerned about internet surveillance but 56% aren’t yet interested in iCloud+.

Apple will place the seventh generation of its watch on sale this week.

The company has also reportedly increased its A15 chip orders with vendor TSMC as it struggles with a component crisis and strong demand for the new iPhone 13 range.

iPhone demand seems high

“While the elevated lead times on iPhone 13 over iPhone 12 are likely largely driven by the supply constraints, the demand indicators still appear robust, and most importantly better than consensus investor expectations for tepid demand relative to upgraders and switchers heading into the launch,” wrote JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee.

The new iPhones also seem to be eroding sales of Apple’s older devices, which it still offers for sale, according to one report. “Apple has scaled down its chip orders for older-generation iPhones, while ramping up wafer starts at TSMC for its iPhone 13. Apple has also not made any changes to its chip orders placed with TSMC for 2021,” sources told Digitimes.

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