Teens Still Crave iPhones, But Not So Much Into iPads, Apple Watch

By | April 12, 2016

Scalper1 News

Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) iPhone remains a sought-after item for U.S. teenagers, but young people are losing interest in iPads and have little interest for now in the Apple Watch. Those are among the findings of Piper Jaffray’s latest semiannual Taking Stock With Teens survey, released late Tuesday. Piper Jaffray surveyed 6,500 teenagers using classroom visits and electronic surveys for its latest report. Of those surveyed, 1,300 teens were in the upper-income group. IPhone ownership among U.S. teens rose to a high of 69% in Piper’s spring survey, vs. 67% in fall 2015. Plus, some 75% of teens expect their next phone to be an iPhone, up from 74% last fall. “Apple maintained steady momentum in iPhone ownership among teens,” Piper analyst Gene Munster said in the investment bank’s research report. “We continue to expect small positive changes in the share numbers for iPhone given purchase intent and the over indexing of teens to the U.S. in total, where we believe iPhone has around 50% share.” The latest Piper survey also found that tablet interest among teens is declining along with the product segment overall. Teen tablet ownership declined for the third consecutive survey to 59% this spring from 61% last fall. Apple iPad share was stable at 64% among tablet owners vs. 65% last fall. In the new category of smartwatches, 12% of teens said they own a smartwatch and Apple Watch represented 71% share of those owners, Munster said. Looking forward, 10% of teens say they are interested in purchasing an Apple Watch compared with 8% last fall, which represents a stabilization in interest after falling the last two surveys. The teen survey reinforced that the Apple brand “remains healthy among the young demographic,” Munster said. He reiterated his overweight rating on Apple stock with a price target of 172. Apple stock rose 1.3% to 110.44 on the stock market today . Looking at other consumer electronics, Fitbit ( FIT ) performed well in the survey, while GoPro ( GPRO ) showed weakness. The U.S. teen survey showed strong intent to purchase fitness trackers. Some 22% of upper-income teens plan to buy a fitness tracker in the next six months vs. 15% last spring, Piper analyst Erinn Murphy said in the report. Fitbit was the No. 1 fitness band at 72% ownership share, up from 53% in the fall. GoPro action cameras declined on teen wish lists, getting less than 1% vote for the first time in two years. Just 0.9% of teens listed GoPro as one of two top birthday gifts. Scalper1 News

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