7 Mind-blowing Stats and Facts about Smartphones
Back in 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone. A year later, the first Android-powered smartphone was released to the market. Since then, smartphone popularity has increased at an amazing pace. At this point in time, smartphones are the norm. I for one, can’t imagine living without one.
Details on how popular smartphones have become are presented below, alongside other interesting stats and facts. Prepare to be amazed.
Apple sold 700 million iPhones worldwide
When Apple introduced the first iPhone back in 2007, we were impressed by the fact that it instead of a keyboard or a stylus, it had a large touchscreen that let you use your finger. I know that’s commonplace today, but back then it was very impressive. It made people take notice, it made people want to get a smartphone.
Each quarter, Apple reports stellar financial results and announces that it sold a record number of iPhones. In the last quarter of 2013 for example, Apple sold 51 million iPhones. And in the last quarter of 2014, Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones. These figures pale in comparison to Apple’s total iPhone Sales.
In March 2015, at the “Spring Forward” event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced to the world that more than 700 million iPhones have been sold worldwide.
Here’s how worldwide iPhone sale progressed over time:
Android powers more than 1.4 billion devices
Google’s open-source Android powers lots of devices, from low-specs phones to powerful Samsung Galaxy and Nexus devices. The Android ecosystem is huge, made up for more than 4,000 different Android devices. Consequently, it will come as no surprise when I tell you that Android is by far the world’s most popular operating system for smartphones, with a 54% share of the global mobile operating system market.
At this year's Nexus event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the Android mobile operating system is used by more than 1.4 billion people around the world. If that didn't blow you away, here's one more: on average, 1.5 million Android devices are activated daily.
There will be 220 million smartphone users in the US by 2018
There are 184 million smartphone users in the US right now. It's a number that has steadily increased and will continue to increase over time. This forecast shows that there will be 220 million smartphone users by 2018.
Here's a look at how much the number of smartphone users grew for the past five years and how it will continue to evolve in the next three years:
Adults in the US spend close to 3 hours per day on their smartphones, doing non-voice activities such as online shopping. Speaking about online shopping, lots of people will use their smartphones to look for gifts this holiday season. 51% of all holiday shopping visits this year will come from smartphones.
Here’s another interesting statistic: 35% of US smartphone users check their devices more than 50 times a day.
China has more smartphone users than the US population
The total US population is of 322 million. The total number of people in China who have a smartphone is of 525 million. There are more smartphone users in China than there are people in the US. But to be fair, China does have a large population. Close to 1.4 billion to be more precise.
This forecast shows that the number of smartphone users will increase. There will be 563 million smartphone users in 2016, 599 million in 2017, and 640 million in 2018.
Facebook is the most popular app of all time
Facebook has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users. It is an immensely popular social network. The Facebook app for iOS and Android is immensely popular as well. It is the most popular iPhone app of all time and the most downloaded social app on Google Play.
Your smartphone is filthy, incredibly filthy
I’m not talking about the fact that you probably use your smartphone to browse for por… adult content. I’m talking about the fact that your smartphone is genuinely dirty (just like your keyboard).
You keep it in your pocket, where it’s dark, warm, and moist. You handle it frequently throughout the day; 29% even take it to the bathroom. You rarely clean it, and when you do clean it, you don’t do it properly. All of these things are great for bacterial growth.
“On one particularly dirty tablet, we found a swab count of 600 units per swab for Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause a severe stomach bug,” says this Which study. “To put this figure in context, the Health Protection Agency classes any count of between 20 and 10,000 units for Staphylococcus aureus as a potential risk. By comparison, a typical toilet seat we tested had a Staphylococcus count of less than 20 units.”
Your smartphone is making you dumber
When I say that your smartphone is making you dumber, I mean that it is impairing your ability to remember stuff. You’re less likely to commit information to memory when you can easily access that information with your smartphone. Why remember things yourself, when you can use your smartphone?
Security company Kaspersky Lab calls it “Digital Amnesia: the experience of forgetting information that you trust a digital device to store and remember for you.”
“The act of forgetting is not inherently a bad thing. We are beautifully adaptive creatures and we don’t remember everything because it is not to our advantage to do so. Forgetting becomes unhelpful when it involves losing information that we need to remember,” said Dr Kathryn Mills, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London. “One of the reasons consumers might be less worried about remembering information is because they have connected devices that they trust. In many societies, having access to the Internet feels as stable as having access to electricity or running water.”
Details on how popular smartphones have become are presented below, alongside other interesting stats and facts. Prepare to be amazed.
Apple sold 700 million iPhones worldwide
When Apple introduced the first iPhone back in 2007, we were impressed by the fact that it instead of a keyboard or a stylus, it had a large touchscreen that let you use your finger. I know that’s commonplace today, but back then it was very impressive. It made people take notice, it made people want to get a smartphone.
Each quarter, Apple reports stellar financial results and announces that it sold a record number of iPhones. In the last quarter of 2013 for example, Apple sold 51 million iPhones. And in the last quarter of 2014, Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones. These figures pale in comparison to Apple’s total iPhone Sales.
In March 2015, at the “Spring Forward” event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced to the world that more than 700 million iPhones have been sold worldwide.
Here’s how worldwide iPhone sale progressed over time:
- January 2008: 3.7 million
- January 2009: 17.3 million
- January 2010: 42.4 million
- April 2010: 50 million
- January 2011: 90 million
- March 2011: 108 million
- Nov. 2013: 421 million
- June 2014: 500 million
- March 2015: 700 million
Android powers more than 1.4 billion devices
Google’s open-source Android powers lots of devices, from low-specs phones to powerful Samsung Galaxy and Nexus devices. The Android ecosystem is huge, made up for more than 4,000 different Android devices. Consequently, it will come as no surprise when I tell you that Android is by far the world’s most popular operating system for smartphones, with a 54% share of the global mobile operating system market.
At this year's Nexus event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that the Android mobile operating system is used by more than 1.4 billion people around the world. If that didn't blow you away, here's one more: on average, 1.5 million Android devices are activated daily.
There will be 220 million smartphone users in the US by 2018
There are 184 million smartphone users in the US right now. It's a number that has steadily increased and will continue to increase over time. This forecast shows that there will be 220 million smartphone users by 2018.
Here's a look at how much the number of smartphone users grew for the past five years and how it will continue to evolve in the next three years:
- 62.5 million in 2010.
- 92.8 million in 2011.
- 122 million in 2012.
- 143.9 million in 2013.
- 165.3 million in 2014.
- 184.2 million in 2015.
- 198.5 million in 2016.
- 211.5 million in 2017.
- 220 million in 2018.
Adults in the US spend close to 3 hours per day on their smartphones, doing non-voice activities such as online shopping. Speaking about online shopping, lots of people will use their smartphones to look for gifts this holiday season. 51% of all holiday shopping visits this year will come from smartphones.
Here’s another interesting statistic: 35% of US smartphone users check their devices more than 50 times a day.
China has more smartphone users than the US population
The total US population is of 322 million. The total number of people in China who have a smartphone is of 525 million. There are more smartphone users in China than there are people in the US. But to be fair, China does have a large population. Close to 1.4 billion to be more precise.
This forecast shows that the number of smartphone users will increase. There will be 563 million smartphone users in 2016, 599 million in 2017, and 640 million in 2018.
Facebook is the most popular app of all time
Facebook has more than 1.5 billion monthly active users. It is an immensely popular social network. The Facebook app for iOS and Android is immensely popular as well. It is the most popular iPhone app of all time and the most downloaded social app on Google Play.
Your smartphone is filthy, incredibly filthy
I’m not talking about the fact that you probably use your smartphone to browse for por… adult content. I’m talking about the fact that your smartphone is genuinely dirty (just like your keyboard).
You keep it in your pocket, where it’s dark, warm, and moist. You handle it frequently throughout the day; 29% even take it to the bathroom. You rarely clean it, and when you do clean it, you don’t do it properly. All of these things are great for bacterial growth.
“On one particularly dirty tablet, we found a swab count of 600 units per swab for Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause a severe stomach bug,” says this Which study. “To put this figure in context, the Health Protection Agency classes any count of between 20 and 10,000 units for Staphylococcus aureus as a potential risk. By comparison, a typical toilet seat we tested had a Staphylococcus count of less than 20 units.”
Your smartphone is making you dumber
When I say that your smartphone is making you dumber, I mean that it is impairing your ability to remember stuff. You’re less likely to commit information to memory when you can easily access that information with your smartphone. Why remember things yourself, when you can use your smartphone?
Security company Kaspersky Lab calls it “Digital Amnesia: the experience of forgetting information that you trust a digital device to store and remember for you.”
“The act of forgetting is not inherently a bad thing. We are beautifully adaptive creatures and we don’t remember everything because it is not to our advantage to do so. Forgetting becomes unhelpful when it involves losing information that we need to remember,” said Dr Kathryn Mills, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London. “One of the reasons consumers might be less worried about remembering information is because they have connected devices that they trust. In many societies, having access to the Internet feels as stable as having access to electricity or running water.”
