Smartphone Usage Statistics

Smartphones have revolutionized the way we communicate and have boosted our productivity, allowing us to stay connected on the go.

Back in 2014, there were 1 billion smartphone users. Now, the number is nearly 5 billion and forecasted to reach 6 billion by 2027.

We’ll explore the latest statistics on smartphone usage, including smartphone habits across the world and in the US, how they’ve changed over the years.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Smartphone Usage Stats (Highlights)
Time Spent Using Smartphones among Worldwide Users
Time Spent Using Smartphones by Country
Time Spent Using Smartphones in the US
Number of Smartphone Users Worldwide
Smartphone Ownership in the US
Time Spent with Apps and Browsers Using Smartphones

Smartphone Usage Stats (Highlights)

The average daily online activity on smartphones amounts to 3 hours and 50 minutes.
Today, approximately 4.88 billion individuals own a smartphone. That’s set to grow to 6 billion by 2017.
On average, smartphone users spend 4.37 hours per day using mobile apps.
Time spent using smartphones among American adults grew from 3 hours 1.1 minutes in 2019 to 3 hours 54.8 minutes in 2024. That’s nearly an extra 1 hour of smartphone usage.

Time Spent Using Smartphones among Worldwide Users

According to Q3 2023 data, people spend an average 3 hours and 50 minutes online on their smartphones every day.

Daily smartphone usage currently varies between 1 hour and 54 minutes to 5 hours and 20 minutes depending on the market.

Mobile share accounts for 57.6% of daily internet time among users aged 16 to 64 worldwide.

We’ve charted daily online time using smartphones since 2014:

Date
Daily Time Spent Using the Internet on Smartphones

2014
1 hour 38 minutes

2015
2 hours 2 minutes

2016
2 hours 21 minutes

2017
2 hours 31 minutes

Q2-Q3 2018
3 hours 6 minutes

Q3 2019
3 hours 22 minutes

Q3 2020
3 hours 39 minutes

Q3 2021
3 hours 43 minutes

Q3 2022
3 hours 46 minutes

Q3 2023
3 hours 50 minutes

Source: DataReportal

Time Spent Using Smartphones by Country

On average, time spent on smartphones among users in 20 markets included in the analysis reached 4.37 hours per day in 2023.

Users in Indonesia spent the most daily time on smartphones, specifically 6.05 hours (the only country with 6 hours of usage included in the report), followed by Thailand (5.64 hours) and Argentina (5.33 hours).

Among users in the US, daily time using smartphones reached 4.43 hours in 2023 (down from 4.42 hours in 2022).

Here’s a detailed breakdown of time spent using smartphones across 20 markets:

Note: Data includes Android phones only.

Country
Daily Time Spent on Smartphones (2023)
Daily Time Spent on Smartphones (2022)

Indonesia
6.05 hours
6.14 hours

Thailand
5.64 hours
5.54 hours

Argentina
5.33 hours
4.95 hours

Saudi Arabia
5.28 hours
5.29 hours

Brazil
5.02 hours
4.82 hours

India
4.77 hours
4.67 hours

Mexico
4.7 hours
4.44 hours

Singapore
4.51 hours
4.43 hours

South Korea
4.51 hours
4.72 hours

Turkey
4.45 hours
4.34 hours

US
4.34 hours
4.42 hours

UK
3.81 hours
3.83 hours

Canada
3.8 hours
3.65 hours

Japan
3.77 hours
3.57 hours

Italy
3.77 hours
3.79 hours

China
3.72 hours
3.49 hours

Spain
3.64 hours
3.62 hours

France
3.61 hours
3.61 hours

Germany
3.42 hours
3.42 hours

Australia
3.35 hours
3.25 hours

Source: data.ai

Time Spent Using Smartphones in the US

American adults (ages 18+) estimated to spend an average of 3 hours 45 minutes per day on internet activities using smartphones in 2024.

Smartphone usage increased by nearly an hour (53.7 minutes) in 2024 compared to 2019.

We’ve charted time spent with internet activities on smartphones in the US since 2019:

Note: Data includes forecasts.

Year
Daily Smartphone Usage in the US

2019
3 hours 1.1 minutes

2020
3 hours 24.5 minutes

2021
3 hours 37 minutes

2022
3 hours 45 minutes

2023
3 hours 50.3 minutes

2024
3 hours 54.8 minutes

2025
3 hours 58.5 minutes

Source: eMarketer

Number of Smartphone Users Worldwide

As of 2024, an estimated 4.88 billion people own a smartphone. That’s an increase of 635 million new smartphone users over the past year alone (between 2023 and 2024).

Number of smartphone users worldwide grew by 2.15x since 2020, adding 2.61 billion new smartphone owners over time.

Here’s a table with a number of smartphone users worldwide over time since 2014:

Note: Data includes forecasts.

Year
Smartphone Users Worldwide

2014
1 billion

2015
1.22 billion

2016
1.43 billion

2017
1.66 billion

2018
1.94 billion

2019
2.27 billion

2020
2.67 billion

2021
3.01 billion

2022
3.62 billion

2023
4.25 billion

2024
4.88 billion

2025
5.28 billion

2026
5.65 billion

2027
6 billion

Source: Statista

Smartphone Ownership in the US

Around 90% of adults in the US currently own a smartphone, up from 59% ownership rate in December 2014.

In 2013, more than half (51%) of US adults owned a smartphone for the first time during the survey period (2011-2023) and continued to grow since then.

We’ve charted smartphone ownership growth in the US since 2011:

Date
Smartphone Ownership

May 2011
35%

April 2012
46%

May 2013
56%

December 2014
59%

July 2015
68%

May 2016
70%

November 2016
77%

January 2018
77%

February 2019
81%

February 2021
85%

September 2023
90%

Source: Pew Research Center

Time Spent with Apps and Browsers Using Smartphones

Smartphone users devoting a larger share of their time to apps rather than browsers.

Specifically, mobile app usage hit 3 hours 28 minutes in 2023 vs. 51 minutes spent on web browsers.

Source: eMarketer

Conclusion

You’ve reached the end of my smartphone usage statistics for 2024.

It’s clear that our smartphone usage evolves over time and there is a noticeable trend of growing screen time.

It will be interesting to see how it compares to what comes next in the upcoming years.

The post Smartphone Usage Statistics appeared first on Backlinko.

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