How your tech choices show your age in South Korea

“Are you cool with Android?”

Kwon Jung-hyeon, a soon-to-be middle school student, hesitated and shook his head. At 12, he said he had never considered using a mobile device that wasn’t an iPhone.

Chae Yeon-woo, a 14-year-old middle school student, already owns an iPhone and iPad. She said if she could get a smartwatch, she would choose an Apple Watch to add to her collection. For her, the Samsung brand feels "bland,” catering to people of all ages but not appealing in any particular sense.

In South Korea, a clear preference for the Apple brand is becoming an age marker, particularly when combined with the usage patterns of daily apps for chatting and searching.

That is, if you’re using a Samsung Electronics Galaxy phone, conducting your searches on Naver and chatting with family, friends and co-workers through KakaoTalk, you’re considered old-fashioned.

iPhone vs Galaxy

On its home turf, Samsung Electronics dominates the phone market, commanding a 69 percent market share among adults according to a Gallup Korea survey in July. It’s just that most Samsung Galaxy users are over 40.

Apple has a 23 percent market share, but the figure belies a strong penchant among 18-29 year-olds, with 65 percent of this age group owning an iPhone, according to the survey. The 18-29 group is the youngest demographic surveyed in the poll.

The preference is even more pronounced among women in their 20s, with 75 percent choosing iPhones.

"It's pretty," said Park, a university student in her 20s, when asked about her iPhone ownership. She believes other devices fail to match the iPhone’s design aesthetics.

In a survey conducted by market analyst firm Counterpoint Research last year, among those who had iPhones as their first smartphone, 92 percent continued to hold on to it. Of those loyal iPhone users, 52 percent cited "design" as the main reason for sticking with their smartphone.

Apple’s premium brand image cultivated through its reputation of technological innovation and distinctive design philosophy resonates with youth.

“Younger generations are drawn to the idea of owning an iPhone, perhaps even more than the device itself,” said Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer science at Inha University.

The iPhone acts as a status symbol -- a way for them to differentiate themselves from older generations and stay in line with their peers, according to Lee. She added that its high price tag further enhances its high-end image.

Park, the iPhone user, further mentioned that her loyalty to the brand is partly due to Apple's ecosystem. For her, switching away from the iPhone means disrupting the integrated digital network that connects to other Apple devices such as the MacBook and iPad.

Unlike iPhone users, who prioritize design and brand experience, Samsung users tend to focus on practical benefits such as affordability, accessible after-sales support and features like Samsung Pay, call recording and device location sharing.

"The iPhone lacks practical features, particularly in this market," noted Yoo, a Seoul resident in his 30s. According to him, Samsung's Galaxy series – Z, S and A -- deliver a more appealing value proposition based on its diverse range of models across different price points.

"While it's undeniable that the iPhone once led technological innovation in the smartphone market," he said, "recent years haven't seen many groundbreaking developments, and its limited design seems to have reached a dead end.”

Instagram, YouTube: two wings of youth digital culture

The disparity in device preference reflects a broader difference in how younger generations engage with mobile applications in their daily life, whether for social interactions or information seeking.

For one, Instagram leads as the preferred platform for both social interaction and information consumption among younger users. This contrasts older generations who predominantly use KakaoTalk for digital communication and Naver for news, information searches, online communities and more.

In June, Instagram was the most time-consuming social media app for users under 20, who spent nearly double the time on the platform compared to KakaoTalk, according to IGAWorks.

Choi Jung-won, 16, uses both KakaoTalk and Instagram for communication, but the two have distinctly different purposes. While KakaoTalk is for more essential interactions with people from school, after-school academies, family, church, and so on, often becoming cluttered with many chatrooms, Instagram is reserved for friends, “free of parents’ monitoring,” she said.

According to Professor Lee, Instagram's strength lies in how it enhances user engagement through visually-driven communication.

Kim Ji-hyun, 23, agrees. She finds Instagram particularly useful for sharing interesting photos and videos directly from the platform among friends.

For fashion and food trends, she continued, Instagram's visual search function stands out. The platform’s efficient search capabilities and hashtag system allow her to discover relevant content from other users easily.

According to Wiseapp Retail Goods in May, Instagram surpassed domestic search engine giant Naver in terms of usage time and frequency of app usage.

Data from market research firm Nielsen Korea in July last year showed that a significant portion of Naver's mobile user base consisted of older generations. Users aged 60-69 made up the largest demographic at 15.3 percent, followed by those aged 50-54 at 10.2 percent. Those in their 20s accounted for approximately 8 percent.

YouTube, alongside Instagram, is a dominant force in the digital life of Koreans.

Since December last year, YouTube has been the most-used mobile platform in the country, with KakaoTalk trailing close behind, according to mobile index data from industry tracker IGAWorks. As of June, YouTube had 46.24 million monthly active users, while KakaoTalk followed with 45.42 million MAUs.

While Koreans of all ages make use of Google’s video platform in one way or another, the usage pattern among younger consumers indicates a shift away from text-based information seeking.

For a 30-something office worker surnamed Bae, YouTube serves as a primary platform for consuming news and information, with its multimedia elements helping convey topics more engagingly and conveniently.

"On YouTube, it is incredibly convenient to access information in video format on almost any topic," he explained, adding that he seeks out content ranging from product reviews and workout tips to global economy news. Bae stated that he turns to text-based sources only for detailed explanations.

A 2021 Embrain Trendmonitor survey of 1,000 individuals aged 19-59 revealed that YouTube is seen as an important search tool by 76.4 percent of 20-somethings and 72 percent of 30-somethings. Notably, 60 percent of this demographic actively used YouTube for information seeking.

Professor Lee expressed concern that the heavy reliance on visual content might cultivate a passive approach to information consumption among young consumers.

“There is a need to balance visually-driven social media consumption with text-based content,” Lee said, as this balance fosters critical thinking and a more comprehensive understanding of information.