Pew: The Majority of Americans Now Own Smartphones

For the first time ever, Pew Research Center can say that the majority of American adults own smartphones. Not the majority of American adult cellphone owners, mind you. They mean that the majority of...
Pew: The Majority of Americans Now Own Smartphones
Written by Josh Wolford
  • For the first time ever, Pew Research Center can say that the majority of American adults own smartphones.

    Not the majority of American adult cellphone owners, mind you. They mean that the majority of all American adults now have a smartphone.

    56%, in fact. That’s quite the milestone.

    Here’s how Pew explains it:

    55% of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone; 58% of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market. Taken together, 61% of cell owners said yes to at least one of these questions and are classified as smartphone owners. Because 91% of the adult population now owns some kind of cell phone, that means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters.

    35% of people have a cellphone, but not a smartphone and only 9% are total non-adopters, carrying no cellphone at all.

    As far as the breakdown goes, men lead women in smartphone adoption (59% to 53%) and 25-34 year-olds lead (81% adoption) the age groupings. iPhone users make up 25% of the total smartphone user base, and Android leads with 28%. iPhone continues to lead with upper-income families – half of cellphone owners with a household income of at least $150,000 say they use iOS.

    You can check out more demographic breakdowns here.

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