Smartphone Usage Statistics 2026

The vast majority of U.S. adults (98%) own a cellphone of some kind.

About nine-in-ten (91%) own a smartphone, up from just 35% in the Center’s first survey of smartphone ownership conducted in 2011.

Globally, 82 per cent of individuals 10 years or older own a mobile phone.

Globally, 78 per cent of females and 87 per cent of males aged 10 and over own a mobile phone, translating into a gender parity score of 0.90 (i.e. skewed against women), which is slightly lower than the corresponding 0.92 score for Internet use.

Globally, women are 10 per cent less likely to own a mobile phone than men, which is down from 12 per cent in 2022.

In Africa, although 66 per cent of the population own a mobile phone, only 36 per cent are online, a difference of 30 percentage points.

Mobile devices were used to connect to the internet by almost 9 out of 10 EU users in 2025.

The highest rate of the access to the web through a mobile or a smart phone in 2025 were reported by the Netherlands and Ireland (both at 98%), Spain (95%), Sweden (95%), Denmark (95%), and Malta (95%).

Today, 16% of U.S. adults are “smartphone-only” internet users, meaning they own a smartphone but do not subscribe to a home broadband service.

By the end of 2025, the number of people using mobile internet increased to 4.8 billion people (59% of the global population).

3.4 billion people still do not use mobile internet, and significant digital divides persist.

Despite the benefits of connectivity, 38% of the global population are living within mobile broadband coverage but are not using it – the usage gap.

Furthermore, 3% are still not covered by mobile broadband – the coverage gap.

Globally, the share of traffic from iOS grew slightly year-over-year , up two percentage points to 35% in 2025.

Android was responsible for 50% or more of mobile device traffic in 175 countries/regions, with the Bahamas ’ 51% share placing it at the bottom of that list.

Looking at the top countries for iOS traffic share, Monaco had the highest share, at 70%, and iOS drove 50% or more of mobile device traffic in a total of 30 countries/regions, including Denmark (65%), Japan (57%), and Puerto Rico (52%).

Smartphone subscriptions 7,170 7,470 8,490 2% million

Data traffic per smartphone 19 22 42 12% GB/month

Mobile subscriptions, 5G 2,280 2,940 6,400 14% million

In 2025, there are 9.2 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions.

Mobile broadband now accounts for 89 per cent of all mobile subscriptions, up from less than 50 per cent of mobile subscriptions in 2015.

Of all mobile broadband subscriptions, 36 per cent are now 5G/IMT-2020 subscriptions.

Last year alone, Americans used a staggering 159.3 trillion megabytes of data—20% more data than was used the previous year and 39% more data than was used during the entire 4G decade.

Remarkably, as households and enterprises embrace new wireless innovations, nearly half (46%) of all devices on networks today are something other than a phone.

Real prices for typical unlimited wireless plans declined by more than 10% last year.

The United States now supports nearly 603 million wireless connections—roughly 1.8 connections for every American.

Today, wireless accounts for only 1.7% of Americans’ spending, a share that has fallen sharply—over 15%—since 2020.

The global smartphone market shrank 22.0% year-on-year to 255.3 million units in the third quarter of 2026 (3Q26), according to the preliminary data from IDC Research (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker,

Memory costs have surged approximately 350% since last year and are still rising, creating substantial pressure on vendor margins and shipments.

Samsung 57.8 22.6% 61.4 18.7% -5.8% Apple 57.3 22.4% 59.7 18.2% -4.0%

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide smartphone shipments will fall 16.7% in 2026 to just over 1 billion units.

The average selling price of a smartphone will reach $581 in 2026, up 27.6% in a single year and revised upward from the $550 projected last quarter.

Total market value will still grow 6.3% to $613 billion, because higher prices are now doing the heavy lifting that volume once did.

iOS share moves in the opposite direction, increasing almost four percentage points from last year to a record-high 23.6% share, as shipments remain relatively resilient, down just 1.3% YoY in 2026.

The category will grow 12.6% in 2026 to 22.9 million units, then accelerate to 18% growth in 2027, reaching roughly 27 million units.

The 173 million smartphones below $100, which shipped last year, are facing an existential crisis.

We are also excited to announce that our installed base now has more than 2.5 billion active devices, which is a testament to incredible customer satisfaction for the very best products and services in the world.

We found that 44% of teens say they have cut back on using social media, and an identical share say the same for their smartphone use.

By the end of 2024, an update that the GEM Report has prepared for the International Day of Education finds that 19 more education systems were banning the use of smartphones in school, bringing the total to 79 (or 40%).

Findings In this cohort study of 4285 US adolescents, 31.3% had increasing addictive use trajectories for social media and 24.6% for mobile phones over 4 years. High or increasing addictive use trajectories were associated with elevated risks of suicidal behaviors or ideation compared with low addictive use.

While about half of girls say they have tried to cut back on social media and smartphone use, 40% of boys say the same for each.

According to the latest findings from the School Pulse Panel (SPP) , 77 percent of public schools prohibit students from using cell phones during any class, with a higher percentage of elementary schools (86 percent) implementing such a policy compared to high/secondary schools (55 percent).

Notably, 30 percent of schools prohibit cell phone use during all classes as well as in these situations outside of class.

More than half of public school leaders (53 percent) feel that their students’ academic performance has been negatively impacted by cell phone usage.

More than two-thirds feel cell phones have had a negative impact on their students’ mental health (72 percent) and attention span (73 percent).