Quick Answer
How many people use smartphones in 2025?
The number of smartphone users worldwide has reached a staggering 6.925 billion.
The smartphone is often dubbed the greatest invention ever made in the 20th century. Upon its introduction to the public, the world suddenly appeared small and connected.
Today, billions of people spend hours of their lives on these novel devices every day.
In this article, you will learn how many people use smartphones in the world, for how long, and which country has the most number of users.
Continue reading to know very interesting facts about smartphones.
Smartphone Users: How Many People Use Smartphones in 2025?
It seems like a basic living requirement to have a smartphone in this day and age. The majority of people’s affairs and transactions are facilitated through digital devices.
As per the latest statistics, the number of smartphone users worldwide has reached a staggering 6.925 billion.
This figure is forecasted to hit 7.33 billion in 2025 or nearly twice the number of 2016’s 3.6 billion users.
Overall, the total number of phone users, combining both smartphones and feature phone owners, is 7.26 billion. This means 91.54% of the global population own some kind of mobile phone today.
All About Smartphones
The death of the good ol’ feature phone came upon IBM’s invention of Simon, the world’s first smartphone launched in 1994.
The device is originally developed to improve phone emailing features, but it also came with other functional built-in apps such as a digital sketchpad and a calculator.
Since then, a wide number of companies like Apple spotted opportunities in the growing market. Today, a smartphone is defined as a device that is capable of connecting to a cellular network.
It allows users to surf the internet, play mobile games, exchange emails, and send texts and calls.
Time Spent on Mobile Phones
It is an obvious fact that we spend a lot of time scrolling through our phones. An average person spends 4.8 to 6 hours every day on mobile phone usage to do various digital activities.
Most of these include getting news online, listening to music, streaming movies, and online shopping.
According to a survey from Deloitte, the leading smartphone activity outside of work is e-commerce browsing and shopping.
Due to the rise of digital banking apps, 29% of smartphone users now use their devices as digital wallets to purchase goods on the web.
Application Companies are Making Money
A rise in smartphone patronage also meant digital applications get a huge amount of profit from the craze.
In 2021, mobile applications were downloaded 230 billion times and generated revenue worth $170 billion.
Big screens such as cinemas, televisions, and personal computers, are rapidly losing traction compared to smartphones.
These small screens allow people to do both work-related and personal activities without having to bring bulky and inconvenient devices along.
Global Smartphone Shipments
Global smartphone shipments grew 4.0% to 1.39 billion units in the full year of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
In quarterly terms, Q1 2021 recorded 354.90 million shipments while Q2 had a lower score of 323.10 million. Q3 and Q4 updated 342.00 million and 371.20 million ship outs, respectively.
Global Smartphone Dominance by Brand
Samsung remains the dominant player in the smartphone business for many years in a row, making 272 million annual shipments in 2021.
But Apple managed to catch up and capture 22% of the total market share in the last quarter of last year versus the South Korean company’s 19%.
Here are the leading technology companies with the most number of smartphone units sold in Q4 2021:
- Apple – 81.5 million units
- Samsung – 69.0 million units
- Xiaomi – 45.0 million units
- OPPO – 33.9 million units
- vivo – 29.3 million units
Historically speaking, Apple clocks in better sales compared to competitors every fourth quarter of each year, This is due to the launch of new iPhones which usually happens every third week of September.
This event significantly improves the company’s fourth-quarter sales.
Smartphone Users by Country
Here are the countries with the highest rate of smartphone penetration:
- United States – 270 million users
- United Kingdom – 53.58 million users
- Germany – 65.24 million users
- France – 50.66 million users
- South Korea – 31.20 million users
In terms of the number of smartphone users, China has the highest score with 918.45 million.
On the other hand, its rate of penetration is only at 63.80%, ranking 8th overall.
Rate of Penetration
The rate of penetration is the percentage of smartphone users compared to the total population.
- United States – 81.60%
- United Kingdom – 78.90%
- Germany – 77.90%
- France – 77.60%
- South Korea – 76.50%
Smartphone Demographics by Age in the United States
Almost the entire young population in the United States has smartphones.
Other age groups in the country have also shown a surprisingly high user count.
- 18-29 years old – 96%
- 30-49 years old – 95%
- 50-64 years old – 86%
- 65 and up – 61%
Meanwhile, 85% US men population and 85% of the women are smartphone owners.
World’s First iPhone
It is an undeniable fact that much of the smartphone’s popularity is due to the invention of the first iPhone.
On January 09, 2007, Steve Jobs introduced iPhone to the world–the world’s first smartphone which can connect to the internet and use third-party applications.
It is a device that changed people’s digital life forever.
The first iPhone came with 4GB and 8GB storage. These are significantly less than the latest iPhone’s 1TB data storage capabilities.
Apple Inc sold 1.4 million units during the launch year and sales ballooned to 11.6 million units by the following year.
Conclusion
This smartphone article shows that almost the entire world population is reliant on this device to streamline day-to-day tasks.
The number of people using smartphones is an important measure of advancement in society.
Having one in your possession is key to faster communication, better information gathering, and an easier way of life.
Sources
| BankMyCell | Counter Point Research | Weforum |
| Textedly | History | Investopedia |
| Statista | Statista |
