Apple, which develops the iPhone, is the coolest cellphone brand, according to South African youngsters

Samsung Electronics has the coolest computer brand and the coolest hi-tech gadget, while repeat winner Vodacom is South Africa’s coolest mobile operator.

These are some of the findings of the 2014 Sunday Times Generation Next survey, which polled a sample group of 5 500 South African youngsters between the ages of eight and 23 on what they think are the coolest brands.

The coolest brands overall in this year’s survey are, in order, BMW, Coca-Cola, Nike, Samsung and Apple.

According to the annual survey, the coolest cellphone brands in 2014 are Apple (with 26,19 points), Samsung (23,78), BlackBerry (22,36), Nokia (16,43) and, curiously, Sony Ericsson (a brand that no longer exists; 4,69).

Google (11,44 points) tops the list of coolest South African companies in 2014, followed by BMW (11,12), Apple (9,95), Nike (8,08) and Woolworths (7,42).

The coolest telecoms brands are, in order, Vodacom (34,48 points), MTN (26,1), Cell C (23,78), 8ta (5,36) and Telkom (4,57).

The coolest hi-tech gadget is the Samsung Galaxy Tab (11,85 points), followed by the Xbox (10,64), the iPad (10,23), the PlayStation (9,29) and the generic laptop (9,1).

The coolest computer brands, in order, are Samsung (22,81), Apple (21,24), Sony (15,84), LG (8,85) and Hewlett-Packard (7,47).

The coolest console and computer games are Fifa 14 (19,06), Grand Theft Auto (14,36), Need for Speed (11,59), Angry Birds (10,32) and The Sims (9,3).

DStv’s Trace music channel tops the list of coolest TV channels with 11,36 points, followed by the Disney Channel (9,31), Disney XD (8,29), Comedy Central (6,71) and SuperSport (6,65).

As for social media platforms, WhatsApp tops the list with 24,71, followed in distant second by BBM (16,91), Facebook (13,19), Mxit (8,14) and Instagram (7,08).

WhatsApp also tops the list of coolest cellphone applications with 19,66 points, followed by BBM (12,01), Facebook (11), Mxit (7,8) and YouTube (7,25).