Smartphone: our life companion, our life rescuer, an object we surely cannot separate from. Smartphone is an object that pervades our lives so much that in Italy the 62% of population owns one, and the 75% of mobile connections (mobile phones, in Italy, are over 80 millions) is broadband (3G or 4G).
If you are reading these words, you are probably being distracted by a notification on your smartphone. If you’re in the office, you will have your phone silenced, but you will have it within your hand reach, so you can check if somebody has tried to contact you. Or maybe your phone is charging, possibly connected to a power bank. The smartphone is near you, because it is an extension of yourself.
So we got a little bit curious about this everyday object: we take it for granted, but until five years ago it was something we didn’t even know nothing about, because it simply never existed. We could never imagine that it could become something so important for us. And we found some curious statistics about it, which today we want to share with you.
People, to define the role of their smartphone in their lives, use expressions like “it is always by my side”, “it is my safety net”, “smartphone is my point of reference”. Some people say “if I ever left my smartphone at home, I would feel naked”.
At the beginning of this article we wrote that 62% of Italian population owns a smartphone: in USA this percentage overtakes the 70%. Some other curious statistics, that will sure brings you to reason about this topic:
- 68% of people admit to look at their smartphone within 15 minutes they woke up.
- 30% admit to get anxious if they do not have their smartphone along with themselves
- 87% always have the smartphone with themselves, day and night
- Everybody checks his smartphone 150 times a day on average, and spend at least 3 hours in one day.
Ok, maybe smartphone will be substituted by something else: it could be wearable technology, or internet of things, that will connect every object. Yes, it could be. But smartphone will always be the mother-device, upon which the connected objects will depend on. In 2014 there were 1.6 billion of smartphones in the world. In 2016 there are 2.08 billion. And in 2019 there will be 2.7! (Source: Statista)
What is the country in which there are most smartphones? China, of course. In 2013 480 million of users owned a smartphone, which will be 690 in 2019: half the Chinese population, a quarter of all world population.
And what about operating systems? What about brands? 80% of all smartphone users have an Android OS, while only 15% have iOS by Apple. The market leaders are Samsung (with a 25% share) and Apple (with a 15% share), followed by chinese brands Huawei, Lenovo and Xiaomi.
But what are we using the smartphone for, among every possible activity?
- 43% of the population use instant messaging apps
- 34% of people use geo-localization apps, Maps especially (but in the last days geo-localization is useful to play Pokémon Go as well!)
- 30% use smartphone to watch videos (this percentage is even higher for Millennials, current 20-35 years olds)
- 24% of people use smartphone to play
- 21% of people use mobile banking
Source: We Are Social, 2016
So many activities, so many consumptions: sooner or later your battery charge will drop, and there is no alternative for now. A smartphone battery only lasts from 12 to 48 hours.
Luckily, power banks exist, which with their comfort and easiness can be brought everywhere, and save us hours of smartphone usage!
Only like this smartphone can be our life companion, our life rescuer, and we will not get anxious if we have our smartphone turned off!
