Piper Jaffray issued a report Tuesday on the firm’s latest semi-annual survey of U.S. teenagers. The results of the survey of 5,600 U.S. high school students show that 34% of surveyed students now own an iPhone, an all-time high, and double the percentage just a year ago. 40% surveyed say they intend to buy an iPhone within the next 6 months.
Piper Jaffray ascribes the boom in iPhone use among students to new low-cost options from Apple. Apple and AT&T lowered the price of the iPhone 3GS to $49 back in January 2011, dropping it to free on-contract with the introduction of the iPhone 4S late last year. These low handset prices are attractive to high school students who may not have significant upfront cash to spend on the latest iPhone models.
Piper Jaffray said in the report, “In our most recent survey the percentage of teens that own an iPhone came in at 34%, up from 23% in the Fall and 17% last Spring. We believe the meaningful uptick in iPhone ownership among teens may be driven by the cheaper $49 iPhone 3GS (in some cases free). Interest in purchasing an iPhone in the next 6 months rose to 40% (another all-time high vs. our previous surveys). Purchase intent was at 38% in our last survey in the Fall.”
The 40% purchase intent rate for the next six months is the same among current iPhone owners and those who do not yet own an iPhone.
In addition, 34% of students also report owning a tablet device, with 70% of those indicating they have an iPad. 53% of the iPad owners also own an iPhone. 19% of students indicate they plan to purchase a tablet in the next six months, and 80% of those students are planning to buy an iPad.