Teens favor Apple’s iPhone over other smartphones, survey finds

If you think you’ve seen a lot of teens with iPhones lately, that’s because the popular Apple device may be owned by nearly half of all U.S. teens, according to a new survey.

Investment bank research firm PiperJaffray on Tuesday released its Taking Stock With Teens survey in which 48% of the teen respondents said they owned an iPhone. That’s up from last fall’s 40%. The report said the increase was driven by sales of iPhone 5, which hit stores last September.

Apple’s smartphone was also the most preferred. According to the survey, 62% of teens planned on making the iPhone their next mobile device purchase. The results were compiled from classroom visits and electronic surveys and involved 5,200 teens.

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About half of the teens surveyed said they owned a tablet but the percentage of those who had an Apple iPad slipped from 72% to 68% as more competitive tablets hit the market.

Another interesting tech tidbit from the survey: Although Facebook remains the most important social network to teens, other social networks are catching up. Last fall, 42% of the surveyed teens said Facebook was the most important, but that number fell to 33% in the latest survey.

Just behind Facebook was Twitter, with 30% saying it was the most important social network. That number is up from 27% last fall.

The social network with the biggest gains was Facebook’s very own Instagram. Last fall, 12% of teens said Instagram was the most important social network, but in the latest survey 17% said they preferred the photo-sharing app.

The survey also tallied interest in headphones. About 46% of the teens surveyed said they plan on buying Beats by Dre headphones. Respondents preferred Apple headphones second, at 22%, and Skullcandy headphones third, at 11%.

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