This post is adapted from BI Intelligence, a subscription service that analyzes the mobile industry.
Here are a few notable points from the latest edition of this survey, conducted twice a year:
- 55% of teens surveyed owned an iPhone of some variety.
- 65% of teens surveyed expect their next phone to be an iPhone.
- Just 24% of teens want an Android for their next smartphone, while only 1% want a BlackBerry.
Most importantly, iPhone ownership among teens in the U.S. has skyrocketed since last year's survey in late 2012, when only 40% surveyed claimed they owned an iPhone.
In the spring, we sounded a cautionary note regarding the uptick in purchase intentions centered on Apple devices. We worried that teen's aspirational purchase intentions would not actually materialize into actual sales, since the purchase decision would be dictated primarily by the parent's income and price sensitivity.
But it's clear now that many of those purchase intentions did indeed result in teens buying iPhones.
It's likely that the increased availability of low-price Apple iPhone models like the 4 and 4s has helped along Apple's penetration into teen markets.
Income limitations and demographics notwithstanding, it's clear that Apple is gaining sales from a bracket of consumers whose smartphone uptake keeps accelerating, while growth across the rest of the U.S. market slows.