A new survey of US teens shows iPhone ownership remains extremely high. And while the number of teens upgrading to the iPhone 16 is currently stable, Apple Intelligence appears to be set to accelerate the pace of new purchases in the coming months.
iPhone Ownership Remains High Among U.S. Teens
Piper Sandler has shared the results of its semi-annual survey of Generation Z. This is the 48th such survey, which surveyed 13,515 teens from 47 U.S. states.
One of the unsurprising results was that 87% of teens surveyed own an iPhone.
That's a huge number, to be sure. But it's broadly in line with past trends. iPhone ownership remains high among U.S. teens.
What's most interesting, however, is how the survey's results relate to planned iPhone 16 upgrades.
- 22% plan to upgrade to an iPhone 16 soon
- That's down slightly from the 23% for the iPhone 15 last year
- Which was down from the 24% for the iPhone 14 in 2022
But that's not all.
Apple Intelligence Will Drive a Stronger Upgrade Cycle
On the one hand, we see a slight downward trend in interest in iPhone upgrades.
However, the survey also specifically asked whether Apple Intelligence would motivate an upgrade.
Significantly more than 30% of respondents said they would upgrade within next 6 months because of Apple Intelligence.
This suggests that while the current iPhone 16 features have generated about the same interest as previous models, Apple Intelligence is set to push more upgrades.
Currently, the iPhone 16 models are shipping without any Apple Intelligence features. However, the first set of features will debut later this month.
However, it’s the AI features that will arrive later that will likely entice more teens to upgrade.
iOS 18.2 is expected to bring Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, and more. It’s likely to arrive in December, which could lead to another wave of upgrades, especially among teens who don’t want to be left out of all the fun these new tools will provide.
Were you surprised by the survey results? Let us know in the comments.
