Apple Now Most Popular Watch Brand Among Upper-Income U.S. Teens, Unseating Rolex
Apple is now the most popular watch brand among upper-income teenagers in the United States, a new survey by Piper Sandler has shown.
Teen smartwatch ownership has climbed from 30 percent in the fall of 2020 to 35 percent in the fall of 2021. 30 percent of teens now own an Apple Watch, an increase of five percent from the same time last year. Apple now has an 86 percent market share among teen smartwatch owners.
Rolex was previously the reigning most popular watch brand among upper-income teens, but Apple is now the most popular watch brand in this demographic. In the spring of this year, only 13 percent of teens intended to buy an Apple Watch, but this has now increased slightly to 15 percent.
The survey also showed that 30 percent of teens use a fitness app when working out, and 50 percent of these users use an Apple app. In addition, AirPods are owned by 67 percent of teens.
87 percent of teens own an iPhone and 88 percent expect their next smartphone to be an iPhone. These are almost record-high levels. 20 percent of teens currently own an iPhone 12 model, but the iPhone 13 lineup is expected to motivate upgrades and more than 22 percent of teens expect to upgrade to an iPhone 13 model this year.
Apple Pay is the second most popular payment method among teens, but cash is still the most popular. This means that Apple Pay is now more popular than the likes of prepaid cards and PayPal.
Around half of the teenagers in the U.S. are concerned about being tracked online, but 56 percent are not interested in iCloud+, which offers privacy features such as Hide My Email and iCloud Private relay.
The findings are part of Piper Sandler's semi-annual "Taking Stock With Teens" survey, which highlights the trends and brand preferences from 10,000 teens with an average age of 15.8 years across 44 U.S. states, and research cited in an investor note seen by Apple 3.0.
Popular Stories
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week.
The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included.
macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.
Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...
