New research from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that, for the first time since they hit the market, a majority of Americans own a smartphone.
Pew found that 56 percent of American adults own a smartphone device of some kind. If you count only cellphone owners, which is 91 percent of the United States adult population, then U.S. smartphone ownership has reached 61 percent of cellphone users. The Pew research study consisted of telephone interviews of 2,252 American adults age 18 and up.
Smartphone users have several choices for their operating system brand, including the iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The latest Pew data indicates that the iPhone and Android are the two dominant brands in the smartphone market today.
Android is the largest, providing for 28 percent of total cell phone users, and Apple’s iPhone is a close second at 25 percent. Both companies have dramatically increased their user-bases in a short period. Two years ago, the two companies together made up only 25 percent of the cell phone market compared with 53 percent today — more than double since May 2011.
The study revealed some interesting facts about the demographics of smartphone ownership. Pew looked at both age and income of smartphone users and found that the younger and wealthier demographics were more likely to use the devices.
The study showed, however, that age is more important than income — young people were far more likely to own smartphones than older people, regardless of income. The youngest demographic, 18 to 29 years old, use smartphones at a rate of 77 percent in the lowest income bracket. The lowest income earners in the age 30 to 49 demographic had 47 percent smartphone usage and the older demographic of 50 to 64 had only 22 percent.
The wealthiest demographic groups tend to use the iPhone. According to Pew’s research, nearly half (49 percent) of cell phone users with a household income of at least $150,000 claim ownership of an iPhone.
With regard to race, Latinos and African American cell phone users own Android smartphones more often than iPhones. Pew noted that 42 percent of African Americans owned Android devices and only 16 percent owned an iPhone.
Smartphone ownership is quickly gaining popularity in the U.S., particularly among young adults and high-income individuals. With a majority of American adults using smartphones today, there is plenty of opportunity for app developers, marketers and manufacturers to provide users with effective consumer and business programs for their devices.
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