A Majority of U.S. Mobile Users Are Now Smartphone Users

Samsung's new Galaxy S4" class="rightrail" credit="Samsung" src="https://adage.com/images/bin/image/rightrail/samsung_galaxy_s4_dual_shot.png" url="" /> Smartphone users are now the majority among people with mobile phones. More than 50% of U.S. mobile phone users are now smartphone users, according to a new report by research firm eMarketer (full charts below). The scales officially tipped last year, as smartphone market share among mobile phone users increased 11 percentage points from the year before -- to 50.1% in 2012 from 39.1% in 2011. Norway, Sweden, the U.K., South Korea and Australia also passed the 50% threshold in 2012, and six more countries (Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland) are projected to reach that milestone sometime in 2013. Worldwide smartphone adoption continues to lag behind, as less than a third of global mobile phone users will have smartphones in 2013, according to eMarketer. That figure will approach the 50% point in 2017, when the research firm projects global smartphone penetration will reach 49.3%. With more than 415 million smartphone owners in 2013, China is expected to retain its position as the nation with largest overall number of smartphone owners. Next closest is the U.S., with 140 million smartphone owners -- just more than a third than that of China.

A Majority of U.S. Mobile Users Are Now Smartphone Users

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