Majority of U.S. Adults Now Own Smartphones

A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found for the first time that more than half of American adults now own a smartphone. Prices for smartphones continue to drop, putting them within the reach of more buyers.

Suzanne Choney with NBC News reported, “More than half — 56 percent — of American adults now have smartphones, up from 35 percent two years ago. The findings from the Pew Internet & American Life Project mesh with other recent research which shows that for the first time worldwide, there are more smartphones being shipped than feature phones.”

The Pew Report noted, “61% of cell owners… 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. One third (35%) have some other kind of cell phone that is not a smartphone, and the remaining 9% of Americans do not own a cell phone at all.”

The Washington Post’s Hayley Tsukayama added, “Google and Apple owners account for half of the cellphone use population, the center said, with 28 percent of respondents saying they use Android phones and 25 percent saying that they use an iPhone running iOS. The report also found that despite the rising adoption of smartphones, BlackBerry users are dwindling — down to 4 percent of the population from 10 percent in May 2011 in this most recent survey.”

In related news, Computerworld’s Matt Hamblen wrote, “More smartphones will ship worldwide in 2013 than other so-called mobile ‘feature’ phones as the average price of smartphones drops, IDC said Tuesday. The average price of smartphone declined by 8% globally in 2012 and is projected to fall another 9% in 2013, IDC analyst Ryan Reith said. Meanwhile, smartphones will make up 52.2% of all mobile phones shipped in 2013, while the smartphone market is projected to grow by 33% annually, IDC said.”