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April 24, 2014

Smartphones Aren't Just for Young People

There have been several studies conducted over the years in an attempt to discover how many people own smartphones and what type of people they are. Last summer a report from Pew Research determined that 56 percent of American adults were smartphone owners. Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

The determination was made by respondents answering yes to one or both of the following questions:

  • 55 percent of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone.
  • 58 percent of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market.

Last year, ownership was particularly high among younger adults, especially those in their twenties and thirties and those with relatively high levels of household income. Since 2011, the proportions of cell phone owners who say they own either an iPhone or an Android device have each grown dramatically.

This brings us to a new study conducted by Nielsen. It seems that it is no longer the under 40 crowd that is interested in smartphones. According to Nielsen, as of this year’s first quarter, a majority of Americans within all age groups apparently own smartphones. In fact, a slight majority at 51 percent of adults over the age of 55 now own smartphones.

That number represents a 10 percent growth year-over-year from first quarter results in 2013. The other effect that this has had is it that it has driven the growth in smartphone penetration to 70 percent. That means that seven out of every 10 Americans now own at least one smartphone. This also represents daily continued growth in smartphone penetration. We are looking at the fact that when a new handset is purchased it will most likely be a smartphone. The percentage comes in at about 85 percent of recent purchases.

In addition to looking at who was buying smartphones this year, Nielsen also broke it down into which smartphones where being purchased. The following chart shows that while the majority of smartphones in the U.S. are running on the Android platform at 52 percent a greater percentage of users prefer the iPhone.

This report from Nielsen mentions adults over the age of 55 however it does not go into detail about how much over that age. Is it the age group that is the age of 65? If so, then perhaps the growing of BYOD has added to that group. Is it the group that is older than that? Perhaps it is the 40 year old child buying the 70 year old parent a smartphone so that they can keep in touch and monitor the elder one. An actual breakdown of the 55 plus age group would be quite interesting to see.

This marks a second milestone that was reached this year. At the beginning of the year, International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated that there are about 1.0042 billion smartphones out in the world. This number relates to a 38.4 percent increase over the shipment numbers for 2012. Now we have another milestone showing that it is not just teenagers and young adults who are buying smartphones. 




Edited by Maurice Nagle


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