Studies about smartphones, brands and mobile OS penetration in the US
A couple of new studies revealed interesting information about the smartphone market in the US. We will try to summarize the main points here. The first one, a study made by Pew Research Center introduces data about smartphone penetration in the country. According to the report, now 56% of the adult Americans have its own smartphone. For comparison, the number registered just 2 years ago was 35%, or the phone market is expanding really rapidly – pretty good news for the manufacturers and especially for Apple and Samsung, who currently take most of the profit. In April 2013, Apple had a market share of 39.2%, while Samsung occupied the second place with its 22% market share.
Another study by comScore, breaks down the data by operating systems. Google’s Android rules the market in the US with 52% share, while iOS has 39.2% share. Pew Research Center has also analyzed the smartphone ownership by demographics and income. Not surprisingly, people with high income ($ 75000 or more) are more likely to own a device. The number of people having a smartphone declines correspondingly with the income. While 78% of the people with high income own a phone, just 43% of the people with income less than $30000/yr enjoy the smartphone experience. A similar conclusion can be drawn if we analyze phone usage by educational factor. 70% of the well-educated individuals (those with a college or higher degree) own a phone. In contrast, just 36% of the people with poor education use smartphones.
Finally, there is an interesting correlation between the income and the operating system. People with high levels of income are more likely to have an iOS device, while people with low income prefer Android-based device. Again, this has its logical explanation – as we know, Apple’s products are not so cheap and affordable, compared with the plenty of cheap Android alternatives on the market.
Source: Forbes
