All-America Economic Survey

America loves its Apple. Poll finds that the average household owns more than two Apple products

Key Points
  • The CNBC All-America Economic Survey polled Americans on their ownership of Apple products.
  • Sixty-four percent of Americans now own an Apple product.
  • The average American household reports owning 2.6 Apple products.
  • The wealthiest Americans own 4.7 products per household compared with just one for the poorest.
One of the first customers celebrates his purchase of the new iPhone 8 at the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2017.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Hold the pie. A survey now supports changing the phrase to just "as American as Apple."

The CNBC All-America Economic Survey finds that 64 percent of Americans now own an Apple product, up from 50 percent when the question was last asked five years ago. The average American household reports owning 2.6 Apple products, up by a full Apple product from the 2012 survey.

"I cannot think of any other product — especially any other product at a high price point — that has that kind of permeation with the public and level of growth,'' said Jay Campbell, pollster with Hart Research, which conducted the survey along with Public Opinion Strategies.

The product is ubiquitous by income group, age, race, sex and region of the country — more than half of nearly all demographic groups report owning at least one Apple product. The household ownership rate is below 50 percent for only a few groups, including those with incomes under $30,000, retirees and women over age 50. By contrast, 87 percent of American with incomes over $100,000 report owning at least one Apple product.

While ownership is widespread, there are big differences in the number of products owned. The wealthiest Americans own 4.7 products per household compared with just one for the poorest. Americans in the West own 3.7, compared with 2.2 in the South.

The survey also found that 64 percent of the public say their time on their smartphone is "mostly productive and useful" while 27 percent says it's "mostly unproductive." Young people, Midwesterners and those with just a high school education are most likely to report wasting time on their smartphones.

As for usage, it is dominated by phone calls, emails and texts, followed by social media. Few Americans say watching videos, playing games and shopping are the main uses for their handhelds.

Campbell said it could be people are understating how much they use their phones for entertainment and how much time they waste. "But overall," he said, "it continues to be the case that the smartphone is really helping the American worker, helping the American family be efficient with their time and really accomplish more than they could otherwise and I think people recognize and appreciate that."

The poll of 800 respondents across the country was conducted late last month and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.