Whether or not you have a smartphone is closely related to both how old you are and how much money you make, according to a Nielsen survey in January of more than 20,000 mobile consumers.
While overall smartphone penetration stood at 48 percent in January, those in the 25-34 age group showed the greatest proportion of smartphone ownership, with 66 percent saying they had a smartphone. In the same age group, 8 of 10 of those that had gotten a new device in the last three months chose a smartphone. Among those who chose a device in the last three months, more than half of those under 65 had chosen a smartphone.
But age isn’t the only determinant of smartphone ownership. Income also plays a significant role. When age and income are both taken into account, older subscribers with higher incomes are more likely to have a smartphone. For example, those 55-64 making over 100K a year are almost as likely to have a smartphone as those in the 35-44 age bracket making 35-75K per year.
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COMMENTARY: As you can readily see, smartphone penetration is the highest among individuals earning more than $50,000. Consumers acquiring a smartphone within the last three months and between 25-34 years of age represent the highest penetration of new smartphones. Here's some more data about smartphones that will boggle your mind.
- IDC say 157.8 million smartphones sold worldwide in Q4 2011, bringing the total for the year to 491.4 million units.
- Gartner estimate worldwide Q4 2011 sales of smartphones at some 149 million. Their total across the year was 472 million or 31% of mobile communication device sales. This compares with figures for 2010 from the same company of 297 million smartphones or 19% of the 1.6 billion mobile phones sold that year. So year-on-year smartphone sales rose 58%.
- Nielsen report that 46% of US mobile phone owners have a smartphone as of Q4 2011.
- comScore estimate average US smartphone ownership at 41.8% of mobile subscribers or 98 million people for the same period.
- They give an equivalent number for Canada of 45.3%.
- A Pew Internet Project survey from May 2011 found 35% of US adults owned a smartphone.
- Apple finally beat out (by a nose) Samsung in the number of smartphones sold during Q4 2011. Apple's and Samsung's share of smartphone sales in Q4 2011 were 23.9% and 23.5% respectively. Apple's and Samsung's unit sales of smartphone in Q4 2011 were 37 million and 36.5 million units respectively.
- Gartner's analysis of global Q4 2011 smartphone sales shows the Android operating system dominating market share:
Source: Gartner (February 2011)
But, as you can see from the above pie chart, Android is running away with the worldwide market for smartphones with a 50.9% share compared to only 23.8% for Apple.
Courtesy of an article dated February 20, 2012 appearing in NielsenWire and an article dated February 2012 appearing in Email Marketing Reports
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