The percentage of U.S. adults who own a smartphone has more than doubled since 2011. Only ** percent of all U.S. adults owned a smartphone in 2011, compared to ** percent of adults who owned a smartphone, as of May 2023. The share of U.S. adults owning a smartphone increased by ** percentage points the highlighted period.  Higher smartphone usage with males and higher-income groups     As smartphone penetration overall has increased over time in the United States, this trend can be observed in the split by gender as well. The penetration rate is not equally high though for both male and female users, as the usage amongst males is around five percent higher than amongst females in the United States. The smartphone penetration rate in the United States correlates appears closely related to with household income in the United States. In households with an annual income of more than ** thousand U.S. dollars the smartphone penetration rate is ** percent or higher, while on the other hand smartphone ownership in households with an annual income below this threshold is below ** percent. Apple leader in U.S. smartphone market     Apple is the leading vendor in the United States smartphone market with almost ** percent of U.S. mobile phone subscribers using an Apple device. Although Apple is the leading vendor in the United States, the Apple iOS operating system has a lower market share than its main competitor Google Android. As the Android operating system is used by the vast majority of smartphone vendors other than Apple, it combines the share of popular brands such as Samsung, LG, and Lenovo/Motorola.

Smartphone ownership in the United States is most common in the younger age groups. 97 percent of adults aged 18 to 49 own a smartphone, while the penetration rate of smartphones amongst adults 65 years and older is only 76 percent.

The smartphone ownership in the United States is highest in urban areas, where 89 percent of adults own a smartphone. In Rural areas the ownership rate is lower with 80 percent.

Introduction

Smartphone Usage Statistics: Smartphones have become a vital part of everyday life, especially in developed countries, where about 75% of people have one. Worldwide, smartphones make up nearly 90% of all mobile phones, with over 7.2 billion smartphones in use as of 2024. This growth shows no signs of stopping, as the smartphone market grew by 7.8% in the first quarter of 2024.

By the end of 2023, around 70% of the global population owned a smartphone. Many people have more than one device, pushing smartphone subscriptions past 7 billion. It’s expected that this number could reach nearly 8 billion by 2028, showing that smartphones are still in high demand and important in our daily lives. We shall shed light on Smartphone Usage Statistics through this article.

The number of smartphone users in the United States was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 17.4 million users (+5.61 percent). After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the smartphone user base is estimated to reach 327.54 million users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of smartphone users of was continuously increasing over the past years.Smartphone users here are limited to internet users of any age using a smartphone. The shown figures have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of smartphone users in countries like Mexico and Canada.

Percentage of smartphone users by selected smartphone use habits in a typical day.

This statistic illustrates the percentage of U.S. adults owned a smartphone from 2011 to 2021, by household income. In 2021, the survey found that ** percent of people with a household income of ****** US dollars or more owned a smartphone.

According to a 2024 Statista survey, ** percent of female respondents between 16 and 64 years in the United States owned a smartphone. Among the country's male population, ** percent had such devices. Accordingly, the total ownership of smartphones in the country was ** percent as of the measured period.

This statistic shows the share of small children who owned smartphones in Sweden in 2016, by age. * percent of * year olds owned a smartphone according to the survey.

The global smartphone penetration in was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 20.3 percentage points. After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the penetration is estimated to reach 74.98 percent and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the smartphone penetration of was continuously increasing over the past years.The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the smartphone penetration in countries like North America and the Americas.

This statistic displays smartphone ownership in the United Kingdom (UK) within the age group of 18-24 years from 2013 to 2019. In 2019, of respondents aged 18 to 24 years 93 percent reported that they owned a smartphone.

This forecast shows the number of smartphone users in France from 2018 to 2024. For 2020, the number of smartphone users in France is estimated to reach 47.18 million, with the number of smartphone users worldwide forecast to exceed 2 billion users by that time. From 2018 to 2024 the number of smartphone users in France is expected to grow by close to four million users. This equates to a growth in the share of users by 26.26 percent. The data was calculated in July 2018 and covers all individuals of any age who own one or more smartphones and use at least one of those devices every month.

The leading operating system on the the French market is Android with a 75.6 percent market share followed by Apple's iOS with a 18.8 percent share. Most individuals without a smartphone still owned a regular mobile phone and only 7 percent of the population did not own either. The most common smartphone owned in January 2017 was the Apple iPhone 7 followed by the iPhone 7 Plus. The three most common activities carried out weekly with a smartphone were the use of search engines, checking email accounts, and visiting social networks.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2024, around ** percent of respondents stated that they owned a smartphone, up from about ** percent in 2011. Since 2023, 5G has made up the biggest share of all smartphones.A digital lifeThe high smartphone penetration rate among South Koreans is by no means a surprise. In the homeland of smartphone giant Samsung smartphones are an integral part of everyday lives. From online shopping to communication, mobile tickets to mobile payment, smartphones have found their place in almost every aspect of the average South Korean’s life. Unfortunately, this also has its side effects – more than ** percent of smartphone users were considered to be dependent on their smartphone in 2023. 5GAs 5G is still a fairly new technology, the whole world was watching when South Korea launched their 5G networks as early as in April 2019. While the initial enthusiasm of consumers is gone, the number of subscribers is rising. As of March 2024, South Korea saw around **** million 5G subscriptions. With the development of the new technology, the country is hoping to be in the center of future smartphone developments and inventions. The government of South Korea is aiming for a market share of ** percent in the global 5G market by 2026.

The global number of smartphone users in was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total *** billion users (+***** percent). After the fifteenth consecutive increasing year, the smartphone user base is estimated to reach *** billion users and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the number of smartphone users of was continuously increasing over the past years.Smartphone users here are limited to internet users of any age using a smartphone. The shown figures have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to *** countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of smartphone users in countries like the Americas and Asia.

This statistic shows the number of smartphone users in the U.S. from 2009 to 2040. For 2022, the number of smartphone users in the United States is estimated to reach 307 million.

Smartphone users - additional information

Advances in telecommunication technology have been significant in recent years. These advances have led to a level of connectivity never seen before. The number of smartphone users in the US has risen steadily over the last several years and forecasts estimate that smartphone penetration in North America will also continue to rise steadily into the future. The United States is one of the leading countries in the world with respect to adoption of smartphone technology.

In America the most popular smartphone brands are Samsung and Apple, while the most popular smartphone operating systems / platforms with respect to market share are none other than Google Android and Apple’s own operating system, iOS. Other operating systems, such as Symbian, Blackberry OS, Bada and Windows have struggled to maintain a foothold in the market as iOS and Android clearly dominate the field.

The first official smartphones came onto the market in the early 1990s. Initially a smartphone was classified by its ability to offer features like e-mail capability, internet access, QUERTY keyboards, personal digital assistant functions and perhaps a built-in camera. As of today, smartphones have progressed even more and we typically classify smartphones as having a high definition touchscreen, various apps, navigation tools and high-speed internet on the go. More recently sales of smartphones have even exceeded that of traditional feature phones as smartphone usage has continued to rise.

According to a survey conducted between 2011 and 2023, ** percent of male adults based in the United States owned a smartphone in the last examined year. Similarly, ** percent of female respondents in the country reported owning a smartphone device in 2023.

This statistic shows the smartphone penetration as share of the population in the United States from 2010 to 2021. In 2018, 69.6 percent of the U.S. population used a smartphone.

Smartphone penetration in the U.S. - additional information
Almost two-thirds of Americans are predicted to own a smartphone by 2017, more than a threefold increase since 2010. A smartphone is a mobile phone that uses an identifiable open Operating System (OS) and has more advanced computing capability and connectivity than a basic phone. The OS is supported by third party applications (commonly known as apps) written by the developer community.

The operating system must be able to support a multitasking environment and user interface that can handle multiple applications at the same time. Two of the most popular operating systems on the market are made by Google (Android) and Apple (iOS) who had a combined stake of over 90 percent of the smartphone market share worldwide at the end of 2016.

The popularity of the smartphone has risen immensely since Apple introduced its first iPhone in 2007, with 43.5 percent of all Americans forecast to own an iPhone by 2016. The first iPhone was notably different from other smartphones at the time because it used a large touchscreen for direct finger input, rather than the need for a stylus, keypad, or keyboard.

The first smartphone to use the Android OS was the HTC Dream released in 2008. Although numbers of people using this OS were low at first, it has since grown to be the most used operating system, with an estimated 107.7 million Americans projected to own an Android phone by 2016.

The global smartphone penetration rate was estimated at ** percent in 2024, up from 2023. This is based on an estimated *** billion smartphone subscriptions worldwide and a global population of around *** billion. Regional differences in smartphone penetration Throughout the world, the smartphone penetration rate in the general population varies greatly. For example, in North America and Europe, the smartphone adoption rate stands at roughly ** and ** percent, respectively. Whereas in Sub-Saharan Africa, the same rate only stands at ** percent as of late 2023, showing a roughly ** percent difference in adoption rates between the highest and lowest ranked regions. Global smartphone shipments The number of global smartphone shipments saw a drop in recent years. However, the number of shipments is expected to recover to previous levels in the upcoming years. Most recently, Samsung and Apple have been leading the share of smartphone shipments worldwide, with other competitors such as Xiaomi and Oppo are catching up. Most of the top contributors to the smartphone market are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, which is also the region is the one with the most smartphone sales to end users as a whole.

In 2023, ** percent of the Hispanic population in the United States owned a smartphone. Approximately ** percent of Asian respondents reported owning a smartphones, while ** percent of Black adults reported the same in the last examined year.

The smartphone penetration rate in the United Kingdom has increased each year, reaching an overall figure of ** percent in 2024. Those aged between ** and ** and ** and ** years recorded the highest smartphone penetration rate. Smartphones are mobile phones that contain an operating system with features of a personal computer. In the late 2000s smartphones started to become much more wide spread. The technological advances that have been made since then are impressive to say the least. New features are available with every new smartphone model that comes out, and the majority of smartphone owners report purchasing a new smartphone because their current device is out of date.Although smartphones have brought the power of information to the general population at their fingertips, they have also brought some negative effects with them. Accidents while driving have been on the rise, although the vast majority of motorists believe it is unacceptable to even take a short look at a phone while driving.