13 facts about Smartphone use around the world
Google has been collecting tons of data about smartphone usage around the world, and today it updated that data on its Our Mobile Planet web site.
The site lets you dig down and find statistics on just about any aspect of smartphone usage, from apps to platforms, in 40 countries. You can also segment the results by age and gender.
Here are 13 of the most surprising and interesting facts we dug up:
1. Android is most popular in Japan, with 55% of respondents using it, versus 39% for iOS. Android is also number one in a few other countries, including New Zealand (41%), the US (40%), and China (38%), but it does not dominate in any other surveyed country except Argentina (33%, vs 18% for number-two Blackberry).
2. iOS is farthest ahead in Switzerland, with 52% usage vs. 23% for Android. Other countries where iOS is way ahead include Australia (49% vs 25% Android), Canada (45% vs 23% Android and 23% Blackberry), and France (43% vs 25% Android).
3. In Egypt, Windows Mobile is way more popular than the iPhone. 13% of survey respondents use the Microsoft smartphone platform, behind Symbian (19%) and Android (14%). iOS was way down at 4%.
4. In the United Arab Emirates, the Blackberry rules with 42%. iOS was a distant second at 25%.
5. More than half (52%) Chinese respondents said they use a smartphone because they can use it "without being seen easily." That was also a big driver in Egypt (43%), Mexico (41%) and Brazil (39%).
6. Japanese users had the most apps on average, with 41. Saudi Arabia was second with 36.
7. Mobile social networking is biggest in Mexico and Argentina, where 74% and 73% of users visit a social network daily.
8. But mobile-social is weak in Japan where 34% of users never visit a social network on their phone.
9. Watching video is most popular in Saudi Arabia, with 59% of respondents doing it daily. Number-two is Egypt, with 41%.
10. They're really good at ignoring ads in the U.K. 50% of respondents said they noticed ads "never" (16%) or "rarely" (34%).
11. Chinese users shop from their phones. 59% of Chinese users did this, compared with only 41% in second-place Egypt.
12. Chinese users also love to write reviews. 41% of them wrote a review of a local business after looking it up on their smartphone. Number two, Japan, was way behind, with only 24% of respondents doing this.
13. North Americans use their phones to search for restaurants and bars. Exactly 50% of respondents in both the U.S. and Canadian respondents said they used their phone to search for grub or drinks.
This update comes from new surveys conducted during Q1 in 26 of those countries. Google hired Ipsos MediaCT to ask questions of more than 1,000 smartphone Internet users between the ages of 18 and 64, and then weighted the results by population.
The site lets you dig down and find statistics on just about any aspect of smartphone usage, from apps to platforms, in 40 countries. You can also segment the results by age and gender.
Here are 13 of the most surprising and interesting facts we dug up:
1. Android is most popular in Japan, with 55% of respondents using it, versus 39% for iOS. Android is also number one in a few other countries, including New Zealand (41%), the US (40%), and China (38%), but it does not dominate in any other surveyed country except Argentina (33%, vs 18% for number-two Blackberry).
2. iOS is farthest ahead in Switzerland, with 52% usage vs. 23% for Android. Other countries where iOS is way ahead include Australia (49% vs 25% Android), Canada (45% vs 23% Android and 23% Blackberry), and France (43% vs 25% Android).
3. In Egypt, Windows Mobile is way more popular than the iPhone. 13% of survey respondents use the Microsoft smartphone platform, behind Symbian (19%) and Android (14%). iOS was way down at 4%.
4. In the United Arab Emirates, the Blackberry rules with 42%. iOS was a distant second at 25%.
5. More than half (52%) Chinese respondents said they use a smartphone because they can use it "without being seen easily." That was also a big driver in Egypt (43%), Mexico (41%) and Brazil (39%).
6. Japanese users had the most apps on average, with 41. Saudi Arabia was second with 36.
7. Mobile social networking is biggest in Mexico and Argentina, where 74% and 73% of users visit a social network daily.
8. But mobile-social is weak in Japan where 34% of users never visit a social network on their phone.
9. Watching video is most popular in Saudi Arabia, with 59% of respondents doing it daily. Number-two is Egypt, with 41%.
10. They're really good at ignoring ads in the U.K. 50% of respondents said they noticed ads "never" (16%) or "rarely" (34%).
11. Chinese users shop from their phones. 59% of Chinese users did this, compared with only 41% in second-place Egypt.
12. Chinese users also love to write reviews. 41% of them wrote a review of a local business after looking it up on their smartphone. Number two, Japan, was way behind, with only 24% of respondents doing this.
13. North Americans use their phones to search for restaurants and bars. Exactly 50% of respondents in both the U.S. and Canadian respondents said they used their phone to search for grub or drinks.
This update comes from new surveys conducted during Q1 in 26 of those countries. Google hired Ipsos MediaCT to ask questions of more than 1,000 smartphone Internet users between the ages of 18 and 64, and then weighted the results by population.