iPhone Use by U.S. Teens Rose from 66% to 88% in a Decade

Piper Sandler, a US based investment bank, published its Spring 2025 Youth Survey on April 9th. The report shows that for American teenagers, the iPhone is still the go-to smartphone. The survey of 6455 teens across 43 states showed that 88% of teens have an iPhone and this is a 3% increase from last year’s survey. This means that the ownership is nearing an all-time high. Back in 2015, only 66% of the teens had an iPhone. In the last decade, it is clear that Apple has been making a noticeable impact amongst this demographic.

The report also highlights that 88% of the teens surveyed are planning on purchasing an iPhone as their next phone, showing that the younger generation has a strong brand loyalty. This just shows how successful the company is in retaining trust and preference with its teenage customers.

That being said, truth be told, Apple does not perform well with all their services. With music streaming, they have a market leader in Spotify, which sits at the top of the leaderboard. The survey showed that 65% of teens are on Spotify with 45% of that number being paid subscribers. Apple Music takes the second place with 30% of teen subscribers. But still trailing behind with no clear indication of closing the gap.

Apple TV+ has even more hurdles to jump over. Only 1% of teenagers watch content on Apple TV+ as compared to Netflix and YouTube, who are much more popular at 31% and 26% respectively. This indicates that Apple needs to expand its content and services if it hopes to compete with these streaming behemoths.

VR is another domain where Apple doesn’t excel. 31% of teenagers own some kind of VR device, 25% use Meta’s Oculus and only 1% owns the Apple Vision Pro. The Vision Pro’s high price makes it less appealing for most consumers. Among teenagers who do own VR devices, 60% say they rarely use it, and only 4% claim to use it on a daily basis.

It's no secret that Apple dominates the smartphone market, but the younger audience will require some strategic adjustments in music streaming, video content, and VR in order for the company to gain traction in these areas.