iPhone Ownership Among Teens Hits 87%, More Than Double Since 2012

[DominikHoffmann]

Our 18 year old daughter has one. I like it because I can see where she is using Find My Phone. Right now, she appears to be in our pasture, probably riding or tending to one of her horses.

The fact that having the entire family on iOS is great, is indisputable. In fact, my wife’s extended family of her, her dad, her seven siblings and most of her adult nephews and nieces are on iOS. That’s about 20 people, and we communicate via iMessage.

 

[mikethemartian]

So, iPhone now is officially a kid's phone.

Tim Cook’s next goal is to take over that Fisher-Price business.

 

[JippaLippa]

87%!
Oof!

Here in Italy the iPhone has become way more popular, but it still has a little of that exclusivity factor it used to.

12 years ago, when I was in uni, you could only see a few rich kids with it, and you flocked around a person with an iPhone as it was still a novelty (to a degree, all smartphones, in 2011).

Nowadays about 15-20% of any given group of people have an iPhone (In my friend group of about 25 only 5 have an iPhone, only 3 of which are 12+ models).

I remember when I got the 13 I'm writing from now (the first iPhone I could actually afford entirely with my money at day one) my friend told me "uuuuuh, you're one of the posh ones now!"

Once again the iPhone is becoming more popular still; I preordered an iPhone 14Pro (which I then sent back) and there were about 10 people in the pre-order queue.
Never seen that before.

 

[ian87w]

Do you mean, then, that a 3-year-old Samsung is not still a great phone today? I am just curious, not trying to slam your statement.

Do you see many people still using Galaxy S10? That's the 2019 Samsung phone, and yeah, even amongst Android users, I don't see people holding on to their phones as long as iphone users in general.

There's a reason the Chinese are releasing new models every 6 months. The churn rate on Android seems higher.

 

[JippaLippa]

The fact that having the entire family on iOS is great, is indisputable. In fact, my wife’s extended family of her, her dad, her seven siblings and most of her adult nephews and nieces are on iOS. That’s about 20 people, and we communicate via iMessage.

Me and my sister are too slowly bringing whoever whe can in the family into iOS, but not specifically for iMessage.

That's because unfortunately the iPhone is MUCH less popular than Android here in Italy, therefore 99% of people use Signal (which I like) and Whatsapp (which I don't like) and Telegram (which I REEEEALLY don't like).

I'd love to have my friends and family on iMessage but that's not the case yet.

Here in pizzaland it's all about the trio of aforementioned apps.

 

[JippaLippa]

Do you see many people still using Galaxy S10? That's the 2019 Samsung phone, and yeah, even amongst Android users, I don't see people holding on to their phones as long as iphone users in general.

There's a reason the Chinese are releasing new models every 6 months. The churn rate on Android seems higher.

True that!
I still see PLENTY of iPhone 6s, alongside 7s and 8s.

 

[SenorWhyMe]

This is why Google's pushing their RCS crap so hard - they want to try and capture some of this market.

not really the reason, its basically iMessage, its a step away from sms don't see how its trying to "capture" the market and more like wanting to move away from sms

 

[ian87w]

Me and my sister are too slowly bringing whoever whe can in the family into iOS, but joy specifically for iMessage.
That's because unfortunately the iPhone is MUCH less popular than Android here in Italy, therefore 99% of people use Signal (which I like) and Whatsapp (which I don't like) and Telegram (which I REEEEALLY don't like).
I'd love to have my friends and family on iMessage but that's not the case yet.

Here in pizzaland it's all about the trio of aforementioned apps.

Here in Indonesia, even iphone users don't use iMessage 😆 Too much of a hassle since majority of the population are on WhatsApp.

 

[Marshall73]

I think a lot of kids get iPhone s handed down to them, that’s how it’s been in my household. None of my kids have had a brand new iPhone, it’s always been a handed down model.

 

[JippaLippa]

I think a lot of kids get iPhone s handed down to them, that’s how it’s been in my household. None of my kids have had a brand new iPhone, it’s always been a handed down model.

That's because iPhones remain usable for quite a decent amount of time.
My 13 is exactly one year old, and it literally performs like new and it has 100% battery health.
I know one year is not too much, but not having seen even 1% of decrease in usability makes me hopeful for the future.

 

[falainber]

Does that mean androids are for old people ?

Is 20 an old age now?

 

[Neil Harrison]

The fact that having the entire family on iOS is great, is indisputable. In fact, my wife’s extended family of her, her dad, her seven siblings and most of her adult nephews and nieces are on iOS. That’s about 20 people, and we communicate via iMessage.

I don’t have a big family, it’s about 6 households with 11 adults and 5 kids. All have iPhone. In fact I only know one person outside of work with a none Apple phone.

My family all has iPhones cos every year they get mine as I upgrade. Works well as it means we are all on iOS makes tech support dead easy

 

[Leshita]

This combined with the ongoing higher education discounts is a hard to beat combo, brand loyalty starts young.
I was never into Apple but then I won the original iPod from a Pepsi contest years back when I was in my early college years, life has never been the same again. lol

 

[eekcat]

It'd be interesting to see this between different geographical locations, income, education, and other demographic groups. There is literally ONE person in my life who uses an Android device, including friends, family, and work. Not saying Android is better or worse, it's just... rare here. I imagine there are other places where it's the other way around.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Nobody wants to be the green bubble.

Teenagers today:

"I'd rather have pimples than green bubbles~"

Honestly a large of it is actually this. For teens I mean. I’m sure many adults too though lol.

I think polls i've seen show teens don't use Messages to chat -- they use a plethora of other chat apps to group chat.

 

[M5RahuL]

I think polls i've seen show teens don't use Messages to chat -- they use a plethora of other chat apps to group chat.

FB Messenger

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Do you see many people still using Galaxy S10? That's the 2019 Samsung phone, and yeah, even amongst Android users, I don't see people holding on to their phones as long as iphone users in general.

There's a reason the Chinese are releasing new models every 6 months. The churn rate on Android seems higher.

Did you know there are great trade-in values (promo deals) given for Android phones? It makes upgrading to the newest Android model very affordable. Because of that, many trade-in, trade-up.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

And all the governments say ...

 

[Christian 5G]

Nobody wants to be the green bubble.

Exactly! There’s always that one in 5+ group chat that has green bubble and everyone makes fun of them

 

[G5isAlive]

Did you know there are great trade-in values (promo deals) given for Android phones? It makes upgrading to the newest Android model very affordable. Because of that, many trade-in, trade-up.

Same exists for iPhones, Apple and the telephone companies do their best to get you to upgrade, and yet people do seem to hold on , share, their old iPhones longer. The difference may be the even 4 year old iPhones get feature updates in software... not so for most androids.

 

[barkomatic]

This high number might mean that the ownership rates among teens has peaked or is close to peaking. Teens also love to be unique and it everyone has the same smartphone you do that's harder. I'm not sure what Android phone would change their minds, but it might require an entire rebranding of "Android" which has become associated with "cheap".

If the general ownership reaches close to 100%, then there is a monopoly issue Apple may need to face. I'm not sure a higher number is desired.

 

[Apple$]

Funny thing, I will remain the only green bubble on my family's iPhone just to annoy them. /s

Sarcasm aside: My mom and I had a literal argument over this. LOL!🤣

 

[SoldOnApple]

31% of teens owning an Apple Watch is still pretty huge.

 

[1557750]

Kids are too lazy to root, unlock bootloaders and load custom roms nowadays. Since that’s all Android is good for, they switch to the Blue Bubble Gods.

They don’t have time to customize. It cuts into schools, sleep and 10 hours of TikTok a day.

Oh, and iPhones rule all! 👊😙👍

 

[redfirebird08]

Apple getting the kids hooked early and hope they stick around for decades, lol