Apple Now Most Popular Watch Brand Among Upper-Income U.S. Teens, Unseating Rolex

[MacRumors]

Apple is now the most popular watch brand among upper-income teenagers in the United States, a new survey by Piper Sandler has shown.

Teen smartwatch ownership has climbed from 30 percent in the fall of 2020 to 35 percent in the fall of 2021. 30 percent of teens now own an Apple Watch, an increase of five percent from the same time last year. Apple now has an 86 percent market share among teen smartwatch owners.

Rolex was previously the reigning most popular watch brand among upper-income teens, but Apple is now the most popular watch brand in this demographic. In the spring of this year, only 13 percent of teens intended to buy an Apple Watch, but this has now increased slightly to 15 percent.

The survey also showed that 30 percent of teens use a fitness app when working out, and 50 percent of these users use an Apple app. In addition, AirPods are owned by 67 percent of teens.

87 percent of teens own an iPhone and 88 percent expect their next smartphone to be an iPhone. These are almost record-high levels. 20 percent of teens currently own an iPhone 12 model, but the iPhone 13 lineup is expected to motivate upgrades and more than 22 percent of teens expect to upgrade to an iPhone 13 model this year.

Apple Pay is the second most popular payment method among teens, but cash is still the most popular. This means that Apple Pay is now more popular than the likes of prepaid cards and PayPal.

Around half of the teenagers in the U.S. are concerned about being tracked online, but 56 percent are not interested in iCloud+, which offers privacy features such as Hide My Email and iCloud Private relay.

The findings are part of Piper Sandler's semi-annual "Taking Stock With Teens" survey, which highlights the trends and brand preferences from 10,000 teens with an average age of 15.8 years across 44 U.S. states, and research cited in an investor note seen by Apple 3.0.

Article Link: Apple Now Most Popular Watch Brand Among Upper-Income U.S. Teens, Unseating Rolex

 

[Adithya007]

So teens have been having Rolexes these days??

 

[4jasontv]

Wait. What’s an upper income teen? Is it defined by owning a smart watch, having a job, or claiming ones parents earn more than some threshold?

 

[FightTheFuture]

Time for a remix, Ayo & Teo.

 

[CarpalMac]

What a strange and to me, meaningless poll. That is a little bit like saying that the iPhone has overtaken Vertu in upper income teens when they're choosing a phone for their parents to buy them.

 

[WaxedJacket]

Real teens know that automatic watches are where it's at.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Why just the upper teen? I don’t think many of them own Rolexes in their teenage years. Doubt they can all afford a Rolex let’s be real.

The headline should be:

Apple Watch is the most popular Watch in the world.

 

[trhoffmann]

Are these teens earning upper incomes themselves, or are they teens from upper income families? Very confusing demographic.

 

[nlkccom]

Exactly how much are these ‘upper income teens’ making? I don’t even think teens are into Rolex. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[SoN1NjA]

I'm sure a lot of teens would choose a Rollie over a watch that requires a reset of the entire device each software update, if they could afford it

But oh SoN1NjA, that's unfair, only the Series 3 has that issue. Well why the **** does it have that issue in the first place??? It's still being sold and that's un-ex****ing-cusable

Also, what does upper income even mean? I come from a middle class family, I own the new 13 Pro Max which I'm sure puts me in some brackets above quite a few, doesn't mean I can afford a multi-thousand dollar watch anytime soon

 

[Octavius8]

1. Teens with Rolex?. (there is no agreement on the ”correct” plural of Rolex )
2. Now we understand the irrational decisions behind iOS 15 and the lack of innovation: Apple market are teens, why give them sophisticated or useful functions when they care mostly about the camera?

 

[boak]

Around half of the teenagers in the U.S. are concerned about being tracked online, but 56 percent are not interested in iCloud+, which offers privacy features such as Hide My Email and iCloud Private relay.

I don't really understand iCloud+ tbh

 

[alexandr]

Why just the upper teen? I don’t think many of them own Rolexes in their teenage years. Doubt they can all afford a Rolex let’s be real.

The headline should be:

Apple Watch is the most popular Watch in the world.

yea, no — i'm pretty the article talks about those kids that do. they get upper-income allowance.

 

[alexandr]

1. Teens with Rolex?. (there is no agreement on the ”correct” plural of Rolex )
2. Now we understand the irrational decisions behind iOS 15 and the lack of innovation: Apple market are teens, why give them sophisticated or useful functions when they care mostly about the camera?

"i want it all from the rolexes to the lexus"

 

[doboy]

It's because you can't buy a Rolex at retail price anymore and have to pay 1.5-3x MSRP to acquire one from a secondary market, haha.

 

[555gallardo]

Next up, $500 Apple Watch dwarf $1.2mil Patek Philippe sales.

 

[Smearbrick]

Who cares what upper income teens think? If they are choosing a throw away watch over something with real value, they are unnecessary and irrelevant, and shouldn’t be trusted with anything.

 

[laptech]

MR, you might want to include a copy of the full report because the link you've provided as your source does not provide any information about the Apple watch therefore what you have written with reference to the Apple watch out beating Rolex cannot be validated.. All it does is show a list of key findings and the Apple watch referrence is not in the list. The complete report has to be requested. Forum remember should not have to submit a request for the report.

 

[alexandr]

ok, wait wait wait, but someone getting an apple watch doesn't mean that they chose it over a rolex — they may already have a rolex, and as rolex doesn't require you to update every couple of years to stay current — this may result in less rolex purchases from the same person when compared to the apple watch.

also, i love both the aw and the rolex, but they serve completely different purposes. i wouldn't wear a rolex to the gym, same way i wouldn't wear an apple watch with a suit(not saying you can't or shouldn't, just saying i wouldn't).

in other words, does this comparison actually tell us what they are suggesting it does?

 

[Johnny Steps]

It probably just means they (or their parents) are well off and prefer the Apple Watch as a purchase.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Why on Earth would teens have a Rolex?

 

[JDHiro]

Wait, wait, wait...

1) First off, teens of any class have never been the target for Rolex. We have to be talking about teens of billionaire parents here.

2) You can't buy a Rolex these days even if you want to. I've been on the waiting list for an Oyster Perpetual (easiest one to get) for 9 months. I'm not expecting to get a call on my Daytona for at least 10 years.

3) Anyone who is buying a Rolex is getting them on the grey market - and I doubt those metrics are being counted.

4) People don't buy a new Rolex every year. They buy one and it lasts for a lifetime. That's the whole point of an automatic watch.

What an insane report.

 

[subi257]

Why just the upper teen? I don’t think many of them own Rolexes in their teenage years. Doubt they can all afford a Rolex let’s be real.

The headline should be:

Apple Watch is the most popular Watch in the world.

I guess it means their parents can

 

[mngdew]

American teens wearing Rolex?
This reminds me of this teen driving a Lambo SUV at high speed on a local street in L.A. and killed a businesswoman.
The teen's father gifted him the car for his birthday or something.
Where is this country heading?

 

[Rogifan]

This survey is stupid. First of all I highly doubt there are many teens wearing a Rolex. Second, anyone (teen or not) who does wear a Rolex I highly doubt they gave it up for an Apple Watch. Seems most likely those wearing an Apple Watch are people who weren’t wearing anything on their wrist or if they were it was not an expensive watch.