The world has gone smartphone crazy – about a third of us across the world now use the devices, and that’s set to grow claimed research company eMarketer.
In just 10 years since the iPhone came on to the market, smartphones have metamorphosed from gadgets for techies and hipsters to must-have accessories.
According to eMarketer’s forecast, 2.39 billion people will use a smartphone this year, with the biggest rises coming in India and Vietnam – each country’s user base is expected to grow by almost 20%.
Much of the growth for smartphones has come in countries with a less developed fixed line infrastructure: in India and China, for example, usage is more than 50% of all mobile phone users, claimed eMarketer.
Developing markets
"As device and data plans become more affordable, smartphone use is growing quickly in developing markets while reaching saturation in developed markets," said Jamie Chung, forecasting analyst at eMarketer.
The more traditional markets continued to show growth too: Denmark, with a penetration rate of over 77% among the general population, boasts the highest rate of smartphone usage in the world.
It’s not just mobile use on the rise. The eMarketer study also showed that 47% of the world’s population now uses the internet, a figure that’s set to increase to 54% by 2022.