Smartphones have become almost ubiquitous in developed countries around the world. In fact, almost three-quarters of the population of the top 10 developed countries own a smartphone.
Worldwide, almost 90% of mobile phones are smartphones. And the majority of the world's population currently owns one.
It's over for now6,5 miasmartphones worldwide – a number that is expected to increase in the coming years.
In fact, global smartphone sales grew significantly10,8 %only in the 2nd quarter of 2021.
Read on to learn more about the state of the smartphone market from a user perspective.
Below is an overview of what you can find:
- Smartphone Ownership Statistics (Top Picks)
- How many smartphones are there?
- Demographics on smartphone ownership
- Breakdown of US smartphone users
- Smartphone ownership over time
- Smartphone market share
Smartphone Ownership Statistics (Top Picks)
- It is about6,84 mlnsmartphones in the world.
- Global smartphone users have done just thatincreased from year to yearof at least5%in the past five years.
- It's up10,47 mlnIoT connections worldwide
- Depthhas the most smartphone users in the world
- Germanyhas the highest smartphone consumption per inhabitant
- Graduatesprobably have a smartphone
- Androidis the world's leading mobile operating system
How many smartphones are there?
Worldwide there are approx6,94 mlnsmartphones. To put it into perspective: this is good for approx85%of the world's 8 billion population.
However, it should be made clear that this does not mean that 80% of people around the world own a smartphone. Actually justsummer country(Germany) has a smartphone penetration ratemore than 80%.
This is because many people own more than one smartphone. And some companies own thousands of phones. To underline this fact, it is estimated that approx10 billion mobile connected devicesis currently in use.
Sources: statesman,New zoo,OuterBoxDesign
Demographics on smartphone ownership
The top 10 countries among smartphone users have a maximum of 7 each0 mlnactive smartphone users.
Depthhas the most smartphone users in the world -almost 1.5 times morethan any other country.
of the countries mentionedOperating systemmost of the population actively uses smartphones(81,6%).
Here's a full breakdown of New Zoo's active smartphone users by country:
| town | Land | Smartphone users | Total population | Smartphone penetration |
| 1 | Depth | 974,69 mln | 1,43 mln | 68,4% |
| 2 | If | 659 million | 1,42 mln | 46,5% |
| 3 | United States | 276,14 mln | 338,29 mln | 81,6% |
| 4 | Indonesia | 187.7 million | 275,5 mln | 68,1 % |
| 5 | Brazil | 143,43 mln | 215,31 mln | 66,6% |
| 6 | Russia | 106,44 mln | 144,71 mln | 73,6% |
| 7 | Japan | 97,44 mln | 123,95 mln | 78,6% |
| 8 | Nigeria | 83,34 mln | 218,54 mln | 38,1% |
| 9 | Mexico | 78,37 mln | 127,5 mln | 61,5% |
| 10 | Pakistan | 72,99 mln | 235,82 mln | 31% |
Despite these staggering figures, many people do not (and cannot) have access to a smartphone. This is because approx1,1 mlnpeople (about 1 in 8 people) do not have access to electricity.
Breakdown of US smartphone users
If we take a closer look at US statistics,19 i 20people have some kind of cell phone.
According to PewResearch data, yesaverage smartphone user in the US:
is male
Total,80% of menowning a smartphone compared to75% of womenin the U.S. There is one3%difference in favor of women when it comes to owning a mobile phone without a smartphone.
Are 18 to 29 years old
It is perhaps not surprising that the youngest adult age group has the highest percentage of smartphone users(94%).
The second highest percentage of smartphone users is30 to 49 year olds (89%), followed by50 to 64 year olds (73%), and completed65+age group(46%).
Live in an urban area
Again, it's no surprise that a larger share of American citizens live in this countrydoorareas use smartphones (83%) compared withsuburbResidents (78%) Inthe rural areasburgers (65%).
Is white/Hispanic
Data shows that ethnicity made little difference for smartphone users. About three quarters of itwit (77%),Spanish-speaking (77%), Insorting (75%)population owns a smartphone.
Men98%vankindAmerican citizens own some kind of cell phone97%vanSpanish speakingpopulation and94%vanwitpopulation.
University educated
In the meantimeEducational attainmentshowed onepositive correlationto smartphone ownership. And a negative correlation with non-smartphone ownership.
Here are the details:
| Educational attainment | Cell phone ownership | Smartphone ownership only | Only owned by non-smartphones |
| Less than high school | 90% | 57% | 33% |
| High school student | 92% | 69% | 24% |
| Some university | 96% | 80% | 16% |
| University graduate | 97% | 91% | 6% |
Earned up to $75,000
Finally, there was also a positive correlation between smartphone ownership and annual salary.
Two-thirds of people earnless than $30,000a year (67%) has a smartphone. There was a slight increase in the number of U.S. citizens serving$30.000-$49.999with a smartphone (82%) and serve American citizens$50.000-$74.999(83%).
Americans serveover $75,000per year are most likely to own a smartphone (93%)
Sources: New zoo,Quartz,PewResearch
Smartphone ownership over time
In the space of half a decade, the number of smartphone users worldwide has increased significantly.
In 2016 there were approx3,67 mlnsmartphone users. Since then, this number has at least increased year on year300 million.
Between 2016 and 2021, the number of smartphone owners increased by 73.88%.
The following table shows the growth in smartphone use since 2016:
| Year | Smartphone users | Growth compared to last year | Percentage growth compared to last year |
| 2016 | 3.668 mln | - | - |
| 2017 | 4.435 mln | + 767 mln | + 20,91 % |
| 2018 | 5.095 mln | + 660 mln | + 14,88 % |
| 2019 | 5.623 mln | + 528 mln | + 10,36 % |
| 2020 | 5.924 mln | + 301 mln | + 5,35% |
| 2021 | 6.259 mln | + 335 mln | + 5,65 % |
| 2022* | 6.567 mln | + 308 mln | + 4,92 % |
*estimated
Sources: Ericsson
Smartphone ownership is expected to continue to grow over the next four to five years.
It is predicted that the number of smartphones will increase worldwide7 miain the next two years. And the share of smartphones compared to mobile phones will only increase.
It is predicted in 202572%of internet users will only use mobile devices to access the internet.
Here's a look at the forecast data for smartphones worldwide between 2021 and 2027.
| Year | Antal smartphones | Number of mobile devices | Share of smartphones |
| 2021 | 6,37 mln | 14.91 million | 42,7% |
| 2022 | 6.57 billion* | 15.96 billion* | 41,17% |
| 2023 | 6.84 billion* | 16.8 billion* | 40,71% |
| 2024 | 7.07 billion* | 17.72 billion* | 39,9% |
| 2025 | 7.30 billion* | 18.22 billion* | 40,07 %% |
| 2026 | 7.51 billion* | - | - |
| 2027 | 7.69 billion* | - | - |
*estimated
Bron:Ericsson,Rooted groups
The segmentation of the smartphone market has diversified over the past decade.
i 2012Samsungalmost claimeda thirdof the smartphone market – the largest share that year. In additionAppel, (who claimed one18,7%market share) no other brand claimed more than 4% of the market.
By 2020,womanseveral brands claimed a market share ofminimum 8%.
Here is an overview of the smartphone market breakdown for selected brands since 2012:
| Year | Samsung | Appel | Huawei | Xiaomi | OPPO | living | Lenovo |
| 2012 | 30,3% | 18,7% | 4% | - | - | - | 3,3% |
| 2013 | 31,3% | 15,3% | 4,9% | - | - | - | 4,5% |
| 2014 | 24,4% | 14,8 % | 5,7% | 4,4% | - | - | 4,6% |
| 2015 | 22,3% | 16,1% | 7,4% | 4,9% | 3% | 2,6% | 5,2% |
| 2016 | 21,1% | 14,6% | 9,5% | 3,6% | 6,8% | 5,3% | - |
| 2017 | 21,7% | 14,7% | 10,5% | 6,3% | 7,6% | - | - |
| 2018 | 20,8 % | 14,9 % | 14,7% | 8,7% | 8,1% | - | - |
| 2019 | 21,6% | 13,9% | 17,6% | 9,2% | 8,3% | - | - |
| 2020 | 20,6% | 15,9 % | 14,6% | 11,4% | - | 8,6% | - |
| 2e kwartaal 2021 | 18,9 % | 14,2% | - | 16,9% | 10,5% | 10,1% | - |
| 2e kwartaal 2022 | 21,8% | 15,6% | - | 13,8 % | 8,6% | 8,7% | - |
The two main mobile operating systems (OS) used in smartphones areAndroidIniOS.
From December 2023:
- Androidhas a70,16%OS market share
- iOShas a29,14%OS market share
- Samsunghas a0,38 %OS market share
- KaiOShas a0,12 %OS market share
- ramenhas a0,02 %OS market share
- Nokia unknownhas a0,01 %OS market share
- Linuxhas a0,01 %OS market share
Men meAmerican market,iOSshows the way with a55,85 %market share. WhileAndroidclaims one41,89%market share.
Sources: IDC,StatCounter
Conclusion
This concludes our collection of statistics on smartphone ownership.
Smartphone adoption continues to grow and become more widespread around the world.
There is still a long way to go in the developing world, but in the most developed countries smartphones are becoming almost ubiquitous.
If you liked these smartphone stats, we have pages for thatpopular mobile appsInMobile app development trends.
