A majority of Americans now own some type of smart phone, a Pew Institute study reported on Wednesday.
Fifty-six percent of Americans either own a smartphone or a phone that runs a smartphone platform, the poll found. That’s up from 46 percent in 2012 and 35 percent in 2011.
Other smartphone platforms exist, of course, but the study found that Android and iPhone users make up almost all of smartphone owners.
“Android owners now represent 28 percent of all cell owners (up from 15 percent in May 2011), while iPhone owners now represent 25 percent of the cell owner population (up from 10 percent in May 2011),” the study states, noting that both have almost doubled their users over the last two years. Those poor souls who still own Blackberry’s, however, have dwindled from 10 percent to 4 percent over the same period.
Who owns what, it turns out, varies quite a bit depending on how old you are, how rich you are, and where you’re from. Perhaps unsurprisingly, people 65 and older own the fewest smartphone: Only 18 percent reported using one this year — less than half the national average. Conversely, a large majority of young people own some type of smart phone: Roughly 80 percent of those under 34.
Given that a brand new iPhone 5 will cost anywhere from $199 to $849, and that Android phones aren’t cheap either (a Samsung Galaxy S III can run you up to $599 on Amazon), smartphone ownership is lower among those who make less money.
Almost twice as many college graduates owned a smartphone as those who had only completed high school — 70 percent to 36 percent. Similarly, 78 percent of individuals making more than $75,000 a year owned one, compared to just 43 percent of those making less than $30,000.
Left unexplained was the somewhat curious statistic that 6 percent more men owned a smartphone than did women, 59 to 53. Experts hypothesize that this may because smartphone GPS systems allow men to find places without asking for directions.