- Gen Z prefers Apple’s iPhone to Android smartphones, a poll cited in the WSJ found.
- A 23-year-old told Insider that features like the iPhone Health app meant she was “Apple for life.”
- Apple made up more than half of the US smartphone market last year, Counterpoint data showed.
Members of Gen Z are increasingly choosing iPhones over other Android smartphones, data shows.
According to a Gallup Korea poll cited in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, around 52% of people in South Korea between the ages of 18 to 29 had an iPhone as of 2022. That’s up from 44% in 2020, the poll found.
Meanwhile, around 44% of the same age group used Samsung smartphones as of last year, a 1% drop from 45% two years earlier, the poll showed. Samsung devices were mainly owned by older age groups, the poll said.
Apple booms in US and China
Gen Z’s preference for iPhones was also shown in data by the adtech firm Attain, as reported in the Financial Times, which said that the age group made up 34% of iPhone users in the US and only 10% of US Samsung users.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Apple took the No. 1 spot as the smartphone vendor with the highest number of shipments, according to data on February 20 from the market-research firm Counterpoint. The tech giant made 70 million global iPhone shipments in Q4 last year, up 42% from 49.2 million the previous quarter, the data showed.
Also in Q4 last year, Apple accounted for 57% of the smartphone market in the US, per Counterpoint. In China, 22% of the smartphone market was taken over by Apple, the data showed. Apple was the top smartphone seller in Q4 last year in both the US and China, Counterpoint said.
Samsung and Apple didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
‘Never looked back’
Gen Zers in other parts of the world are also big fans of the iPhone and said they plan to stick with Apple.
Honor Woodley, a 23-year-old based in London, told Insider she liked the iPhone’s layout, cameras, and how her MacBook, Apple Watch, and AirPods were all in sync with one another. She used to have a BlackBerry, but switched to an iPhone was she was around 14 years old and “never looked back.”
“My friends do have Androids and I can see they are cheaper and often provide more storage, but losing features like the health tracking between my Apple Watch and iPhone and iMessage just isn’t an option. I’m 100% Apple for life,” she said.
Of the three Gen Zers between 22 and 26 who spoke to the Journal about their loyalty to iPhones, two of them told the paper that they switched back to Apple after using Android smartphones.
The other, a 22-year-old college student based in Seoul, told the Journal she likes the iPhone’s design and photos, but also thought the aesthetic of Samsung’s phones have become better and its flip phones have a wide range of colors.
Despite Apple’s popularity with Gen Z, Samsung is still the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world by total shipments, according to International Data Corporation’s research released in late January. Samsung is one of the lead makers of foldable phones. Apple has not announced plans to offer a foldable phone model.
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