Men older than 65 were Apple’s top spenders last year, Slice Intelligence says Men older than 65 are Apple’s biggest spenders Apple Inc. may have a huge fan base of young people, but older consumers are the ones coughing up the most dough for its trendy devices. Men older than 65 spent more money on Apple AAPL, +1.41% products in the past year than any other age or gender combination, an average of $976 per person versus the national average of $788, according to new data from Slice Intelligence. Men between 45 and 54 were the second-biggest buyers, with men out-spending women across all age demographics. When including all Apple consumers, those older than 45 outpaced the national spending average, despite that demographic representing just 27% of Apple’s total online customer base, according to Slice, which analyzed data from more than three million Slice users. The senior demographic has become an increasingly important market for Apple, particularly given the high demand for innovation in health care — a major focus of the Apple Watch — for older generations and reports of smartphone saturation in younger demographics. New data published this week from Pew Research showed that 86% of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 and 29 already own a smartphone, a signal, it says, that the saturation point is nearing among that demographic. The iPhone made up 66% of Apple’s $233.7 billion in revenue last year. As part of its efforts to diversify, Apple announced a program earlier this year with IBM Corp. IBM, +0.21% to get up to five million iPads in the hands of Japanese senior citizens by 2020. The company is also about to launch a larger iPad, the iPad Pro, which could be popular among those with declining eyesight. Apple has also doubled down on corporate clients in recent months, launching the higher-tier iPad Pro in September and pushing industry-specific enterprise iOS apps through another partnership with IBM. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said the company made $25 billion of its annual revenues from the enterprise market, “a fraction” of the potential opportunity Apple sees ahead. Shares of Apple closed down 0.8% to $119.50 on Friday, the same day Apple began selling its new Apple TV in retail stores. The stock is down 2.3% over the last three months, versus a 0.5% decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. More from MarketWatch