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Survey: Apple Watch most popular smartwatch among teens as iPhone stays strong & iPad lags

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A report released yesterday showed that Apple is still growing in the PC market, and now Piper Jaffray has released its latest survey focusing on the company’s performance in the teen segment of the market. According to the survey results, gathered from 6,500 teenagers with an average age of 16 and a half years, Apple still dominates across all product categories compared to comitting brands.

The data shows that 69 percent of the surveyed teens own an iPhone, which is up 3 percent year-over-year. This is interesting to note: as reports suggest Apple has reached “peak” iPhone, the device’s popularity is still growing among the younger generation.

When it comes to the tablet market, however, Apple actually saw its share fall among teens, although the entire tablet market saw a decline too. The survey shows that 59 percent of teens own some sort of tablet computer, which is down 3 percent year-over-year. More specifically, 48 percent of teens own an iPad, down from 51 percent this time last year. iPad mini usage, however, actually increased as 16 percent of teens reported that they had Apple’s smaller (and cheaper) tablet, which is up 3 percent year-over-year. Android tablet usage was stagnant year-over-year at 18 percent of teens.

Finally, 12 percent of teens reported that they owned some sort of smartwatch, which is up 7 percent year-over-year. Of that 12 percent, 71 percent were Apple Watches. These numbers are generally in line with what was predicted by analysts prior to the Apple Watch launch at this point last year. In the broader wearable category, Fitbit came in as the most preferred fitness band among teens, earning the approval of 72 percent of survey respondents. Nike came in second with 12 percent of responses, while Apple earned 6 percent.

Looking ahead to the future, 13 percent of teens plan on buying some sort of tablet within the next 6 months, a time period that would end right after back to school season. 50 percent of people who expect to buy a tablet plan to purchase an iPad, which is up 2 percent year-over-year, while 13 percent plan to buy an iPad mini. Apple’s growth in this area could be somewhat attributable to the release of the 12.9-inch and 9.7-inch iPad Pro models and the accompanying Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil accessories. In the smartphone market, 75 percent of teens expect their next phone to be an iPhone.

Last month, IDC predicted that Apple Watch will command the smartwatch market through 2020, while noting that Android Wear was starting to close the gap around that time. In 2020, IDC expects Apple Watch will sell 31 million units, giving it 37.6% of the market. It predicts Android Wear, however, will sell 28 million units and grab 35% market share.

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Comments

  1. Alan Aurmont - 8 years ago

    iPad will lag into oblivion unless Apple makes one with macOS.

    • viciosodiego - 8 years ago

      nope.
      You can’t simply put a desktop os on a tablet.
      Look at the mess microsoft has.
      UWP apps aren’t desktop programs, and desktop programs aren’t tablet optimized apps.
      os X and iOS are different beasts.

      • pdixon1986 - 8 years ago

        actually the surface works rather well…their issue is that they tried to put their main OS on to phones, smaller tablets, and tablets that werent really designed for it…

        An ipad is needs at least its own ipadOS… but it most certainly can run OSX — however, only the pro series should have the OSX option because it would run best on this — the pencil would allow for precise touch control (which the OSX can handle touch…contrary to popular beliefs) BUT i think it would be best to have it as a dual boot system… that way you can use the ipad with an ipadOS and use as an actual tablet, or launch the desktop mode and essentially pair a bluetooth mouse and keyboard and use as a desktop PC … bootcamp on the mac already allows you to share files between 2 OSs installed on the device — the only thing that would improve the experience would be a usb-c instead of lightning (which apple have been considering)… this will allow for more connectivity to printers, power, additional screen, usb devices, faster data transfer, ethernet etc.

        oh… and iOS is OSX — as stated by Jobs way back when…lol

    • rnc - 8 years ago

      Nope.

      The iPad is not a cheap MacBook.

  2. “…13 percent of teens plan on **having their parents buy them** some sort of tablet…” Little copy editing there.

  3. pdixon1986 - 8 years ago

    The girl on the right looks so happy… i wonder what she’s listening too… although she seems to have the earphones in a weird way…lol

  4. iPad will eventually fall into oblivion.Because a MacBook Air/Pro and A iPhone are far more capable of doing things than a iPad could.

  5. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    @PDIXON1986
    No, the iPad is not capable of running os X, the technical limitations are to many.
    Also, this doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

  6. David Kaplan - 8 years ago

    I mean…. there aren’t really other smartwatches available that even come close to how good this is so…. not exactly competition for that on what teens like. Also teens are going to want what’s trendy and on brand so the company with the best marketing will always win teens. They want to be accepted by their friends for buying what is perceived to be better.

  7. Lewis Harding - 8 years ago

    iPad is becoming useless. I was thinking of selling my Mac to use an iPad Pro, but I have software such as SPSS and desktop apps that aren’t compatible with a mobile device. Many people use Macs to install programmes and download different software that you can’t do on iOS due to lack of Adobe support and such.
    Apple need to stop pushing the iPad Pro as ‘a Mac replacement’ because iPad is still a long way off from doing the things a Mac can do. Saying that, they’re also at risk of cannibalising their Mac line if all their laptops and desktops can be replaced by a handheld device.

  8. Peter Hillman - 8 years ago

    Correct headline “Spoiled teenagers asking Mommy and Daddy to buy them an overpriced watch, so they can lose it and break it like their iPhone”.

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com