43% of Americans Now Smartphone Owners

Anthony Wayne    Cell Phones     2011, smartphone, usa, use

Smartphone use hits 43% in USA

According to new third-quarter 2011 data from Nielsen, 43% of U.S. consumers now own smartphones — up 5 percentage points in the past six months. Within that 43%, according to Nielsen, Android has 43% of the market and the iPhone has 28%, i.e., “exactly where they were three months ago,” Fortune points out.

“In the rapidly growing U.S. smartphone market, Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone seem to have reached a steady state,” Fortune writes. “What is changing is the rate at which different age groups are switching from dumb phones to smart ones.”

Young adults, in particular, are now more likely to own a smartphone. (See the previous numbers for smartphone ownership by age in the USA.)  Indeed, 62% of U.S. consumers ages 25-34 who own any kind of mobile phone now own a smartphone, according to Nielsen. Among 18-24 and 35- to 44-year-olds, the smartphone penetration rate is about 54%. Meanwhile, about 40% of teens 12-17 years old, and 40% of 45- to 54-year-olds now report owning a smartphone. Also of note, the second fastest-growing smartphone penetration rate is those aged 55-64.

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