Tuesday, March 26, 2024

How Many People Use iPhones

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What Kind Of Person Prefers An iPhone

iPhone 12 Pro Durability – Using With No Case

My post about reasons for switching to iPhone from Android spurred many comments, including quite a few that went to “what kind of person you must be to have made that decision” . This made me wonder how, in actual fact, people who prefer the iPhone differ from people who prefer Android. In particular, Im impressed that iPhone holds a strong lead over Android in app quality several years after Android surpassed iPhone in market share: new apps and new features keep arriving on iPhone well before Android. What might the characteristics of iPhone users tell me about why that happens, and how long it is likely to last?

I turned to a market research tool called CivicScience that is very well suited to answering these questions. CivicScience constantly runs surveys on hundreds of web sites, asking questions about products, preferences, and respondents backgrounds. They have compiled a database of over 300 million responses from 27 million people. I searched this database, looking for relationships between consumers preference for iPhone versus Android, their preferences for other products, and their demographics.

Data via CivicScience.com.

Characteristics of iPhone people versus Android people:

And, a few to ponder:

What This Data Says To Me

Both iPhone and Android people are affluent, educated, eager digital device consumers, and well-represented across the adult age spectrum up to 65.

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Notes:

  • Disclosure: New Atlantic Ventures is an investor in CivicScience.
  • Get And Manage Notifications

    The iPhones active notifications let you respond from within the notification without opening the app – something Android lacks. But Android lets you set which notifications are priority, automatically sending them to the top of the list . Its also easier to clear Android notifications with a single swipe.

    iPhones In Use In The Us Rise To 94m New Study Suggests

    No shock: the iPhone 6 line is off to a strong start. More surprisingly, some 8 million iPhone 4S devices are still in US hands.

    If you’re interested in seeing an iPhone in person, chances are, you won’t have to look too far, new data from research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows.

    An estimated total of 94 million iPhones were in use in the US at the end of March, including 38 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units, CIRP said Friday. That 38 million figure is made up of 25 million iPhone 6 units and 13 million iPhone 6 models, according to the company’s estimates. CIRP also discovered that there are still 8 million iPhone 4S devices in use in the US, despite the handset launching in 2011.

    CIRP’s data is based on a survey of 500 US Apple customers conducted in March. The sample population included customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad or Mac.

    To put that in some context: Research firm eMarketer estimates 184.2 million people in the US will use a smartphone this year, representing 71.6 percent of mobile phone users and 57.3 percent of the population. By 2018, the firm predicts penetration will reach 82 percent of mobile phone users and 66.9 percent of the US population, with a total of 220 million smartphone users.

    Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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    Smartphone Units Sold Per Mobile Vendor

    Statista estimates 1.589 billion smartphones sold by the end of 2021 . Broken down into vendor sales, the top smartphone vendors as of December 2021 are Samsung, Huawei, Apple, Xiaomi, andOppo . In a surprising turn of events in the last quarter of 2020, Apple managed to relinquish the top spot from Samsung, a feat it has not done since 2017, as it held a 23.4% of the market. Samsung, however, remained consistent at 19.1% since the fluctuations of its share have been modest since the second quarter of 2019.

    Xiaomi, OPPO, and Huawei continue to defy expectations with consistent growth despite the US trade ban and the suspension of its Google Android license. As of the fourth quarter of 2020, the three are battling it out for the third to fifth spots, respectively, with Xiaomis 11.2%, OPPOs 8.8%, and Huaweis 8.4% .

    Installed Base In The United States Reached 193 Million iPhone Units As Of March 2019

    What iPhone apps are people using, really? [part 1]  Made ...

    The number of iPhone users installing an iPhone device in the United States grew 2% from December 2018 and as much as 12% from the same quarter last year. There is a slow but consistent growth trend each year, with the installed base in December of 2016 being around 140 million units, and growing over 5% over the next few years. iPhone statistics show that as unit sales slow down and people keep their devices for longer periods of time, the growth rate of newly installed devices is getting smaller each year.

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    What To Get Instead Of An iPhone 4

    My advice? If you want to save money, get yourself an iPhone 8 Plus. That phone is now a few generations old and can be picked up for around $300. It will get iOS support for years to come, has a great camera, and the battery life is brilliant. It also has the home button too, just in case you prefer that kind of thing as I do. Want to go one better? The iPhone X can now be acquired for a very reasonable price and that phone uses Apples OLED display technology.

    • Save

    Another great option is getting yourself a reconditioned iPhone these retail for around 40% less than normal and you can get deals for iPhones up to the iPhone XS Max. These reconditioned iPhones look and function as good as new. The only difference between these and a new one is the price youll pay around 40% less. If youre looking to pick up an iPhone second hand, I would always recommend you go with a reconditioned one instead.

    Why? If you buy a used phone off someone on eBay or Craigs List that phone will have been used and that means the battery will be degraded and the chassis will almost certainly have some form of damage either scuffs or scratches. With a reconditioned iPhone, youre still getting a used iPhone but here the handset has been retrofitted and re-jigged ready for resale. All aspects of the phone are reconditioned, so it looks and feels and works like new.

    How Many Smartphone Users Are There In China

    China has the highest number of smartphone users at over 911 million compared to the USs 270 million . Smartphone penetration rates in 2020 for these two countries are 63.4% and 81.6%, respectively. Overall, the US has the highest penetration rate, followed by the United Kingdom at 78.99%, Germany at 77.9%, France at 77.6%, and South Korea at 76.5%. The global penetration rate is 66% .

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    Cell Phone Usage Worldwide By Country

    Tip: Filter table columns by clicking on the headings

    RANK

    8. Newzoo

    73.47% of people in the top 10 developed countries own a smartphone

    According to the latest Newzoo statistics featured above, 26.53% of people in the top 10 developed countries dont own a smartphone, wither having a feature phone or nothing at all. Examples of countries included in this are the UK, UAE, United States, France, Spain, and Canada. 8. Newzoo

    74.61% of people in the top 10 developing countries dont have a smartphone

    Another spin on the Newzoo data is that 25.39% of people in developing countries have a smart cell phone in their possession, leaving 74.61% of the population without one. Examples of countries included in this are Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and India.

    Smartphone Penetration By Country Statistics

    iPhone 12 Mini – Many Months Later…

    The adoption of smart cell phones isnt the same in every country or region around the globe. Below we show the latest smartphone penetration data, showing population versus the number of smartphone users by country.

    • Highest number of users: China is leading with the most physical smartphone users at 918.45 million only due to population size, with 63.80% market penetration
    • Lowest number of users: Thailand has the lowest number of smartphone users at 37.88 million, with 54.30% market penetration
    • Highest market penetration: The United States has the highest smartphone penetration, with 81.60% of its population owning a smartphone, totaling 270 million.
    • Lowest market penetration: Pakistan has the lowest user to population ratio at 18.40%, with 40.59 million

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    What Percentage Of The Population Has A Smartphone

    Smartphone penetration rates vary per region and research sample. India has 27.70% despite a booming population that nearly rivals China. The highest is a toss between the UK with a 82.20% smartphone penetration rate and South Korea with 95% . The global average is at 39% for 2018 but is projected to reach 41.5% by the end of 2019.

    Global Smartphone Penetration By Region

    According to a recent report by Newzoo, this is the global split of smartphone users by region, much like the breakdown by a country above, China takes the lions share of active users.

    8. Newzoo

    Developing countries primarily have feature phones still.

    When reviewing the country data above, its clear that not every person is likely to have a phone for many reasons, especially in developing countries. For instance, when analyzing PEW Research data from India, they found that 40% of people own a feature phone and 35% of the population dont have a mobile device. Similar trends match the table above for Nigeria with 17% without phones, 44% with feature phones and Indonesia 29% without, 28% feature phones only. 9. PEW Research Center

    14.28% of people in the world physically cant own a cell phone

    Another important fact to point out is that its estimated that 14.28% of the current world population doesnt have access to electricity resulting in the fact they couldnt even charge one if they owned it. 10. Quartz

    Countries like China, India, the US, Brazil, and Russia have the most cell phone subscribers.

    Together, these top five countries have over 1.64 billion active mobile users, which is huge for the economy. The mobile industry relies heavily on tariff services through cell phone subscriptions for mobile operators to make money. China, a country with 851 million smartphone users, has over 850 providers to choose from!

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    iPhone Fanboys Are Status

    Contributing Columnist, Computerworld|

    I’ve noticed a curious thing about some Android users. They have very strong and surprising opinions about people who choose iPhones.

    Whenever I post something about phones, or engage in an online conversation about iPhones, I can always count on these opinions surfacing. I don’t notice a strong wave of posts in the other direction during conversations about Android devices.

    It’s not just that Android users and iPhone users each have their preferred phones. Many Android fans think the decision to buy an iPhone is an error, and that if everyone was clear-thinking, objective and informed, they would choose Android.

    It’s a strange phenomenon. And I really wanted to understand it better. So I asked my Android-loving friends on Google+ a very simple question: Why do people buy iPhones?

    In less than eight hours, they had maxed out Google+’s 500-comment limit. Boy did I get an earful. Here’s why people buy iPhones, according to Android fans:

    The iPhone is a status symbol. iPhone buyers are attracted to the Apple brand as a prestigious status symbol or fashion accessory, for the same reasons people like Rolex watches or Gucci bags.

    The iPhone is a smart phone for dumb users. The iPhone is supposed to be easy to use, so novices are attracted to it for that reason.

    iPhone users are ignorant. iPhone buyers don’t know what Android phones are capable of, or how unnecessary iPhone limitations are.

    Which Country Has The Most Smartphone Users

    What iPhone apps are people using, really? [part 2]  Made ...

    Smartphone ownership continues to grow rapidly but the growth rate is not equal.

    China and India are constantly mentioned across market reports as critical drivers of smartphone ownership growth in the world and the APAC region. China has a 55.30% penetration rate while India is at 27.70%. Penetration rates lower than 60% leave a lot of room to grow and demand to fill. Sources point to China and India as likely leaders of the smartphone ownership market in the world with an estimated combined number of 1.406 billion18.50% of the projected world population numbers by 2020.

    A Bloomberg report from August 2019 showed North Korea as the country with the lowest number of smartphone ownership per user in the world0.15 phones per person . In contrast, the country with the highest number of smartphone devices per individual is Macao, registering 3.29 smartphones per person. The extremes highlight the huge disparity in economic wealtha leading barrier to mobile phone ownershipeven between countries within the APAC region.

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    There Were Around 14 Billion Apple Devices Worldwide As Of March 2019

    These include iPhones, iPods, iPads, Mac computers, Apple TV, and Apple Watches. Estimates have iPhones accounting for around 900 million of those devices. iPhone popularity far eclipses that of other Apple products and its revenue statistics prove that. Active devices are measured by Apple as devices connected to the ICloud. Both iPads and Mac computers have been selling better recently, but the number of active iPhone users still outclasses that of all other Apple devices.

    Why I’ll Never Buy An iPhone Case

    Technically Incorrect: Would you really wrap your BMW in protective rubber? So why do you do it to your phone?

    Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives.

    Why do people do this?

    Please, I’m not a ranter.

    This is more the bemused muttering of someone who’s watched an event, a thing unfold for years, and failed to grasp why it happens.

    This is the case of the iPhone case. It leaves my mind boggled beyond unbogglement.

    I saw someone the other day with a silver sparkly iPhone case that blanketed her phone like so much spangly snot.

    I know what your answer will be before I ask the question, but I’ll ask it anyway: Why do people buy iPhone cases? Or any phone case?

    You’ll tell me that the case protects your phone when you drop it. You’ll tell me that you’re clumsy, uncoordinated, that you like a drink or 10, after which who knows what you can perpetrate.

    You’ll tell me iPhones are slippery. They easily fall out of your hand.

    But there is St. Jonathan Ive of Cupertino every year telling you that he’s crafted your iPhone out the finest aluminium and precious metals from faraway caves and all you want to do is put the thing in a cheap old sparkly condom?

    St. Jonathan explains that he’s thought about the design from dawn till sunset, from curved edge to two-dimensional icon and all you do is make it look like a mini-Kindle — or a mini-Kindle upon which someone has been sick?

    The whole thing bedevils me more than the love of sriracha.

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    iPhone 4s Features And Functionality

    The previous few upgrades Apple made to the iPhone were centered on improving its speed, screen, and cameras. The iPhone 4S was upgraded in all of these areas, but it also included some exciting new features that had never before been seen in iPhone history.

    Perhaps the most exciting change was the introduction of Siri, Apples voice-controlled assistant that is still in use today and that in many ways introduced the consumer world to the functionality of Artificial Intelligence.

    In addition to Siri, Apple also introduced the iCloud, which allowed people to store photos, videos, music, contacts, and much more in the cloud, which freed up space on the device, something they most likely did in response to the complaint that there was never enough storage space on the iPhone. Apple also introduced iMessage to make texting between iPhone users easier, a notifications center, reminders, and Twitter integration, helping the iPhone stay at the top of the smartphone world.

    Wearable Home And Accessories Revenue

    Living with an iPhone 5 for a Week

    Apple has seen 243 percent growth in this segment since it bundled together all of its other hardware segments. We estimate that AirPods is a $10 billion business on its own, with Apple Watch also potentially contributing between $12 to $14 billion a year.

    Wearable, Home and Accessories quarterly revenue

    Year

    Note: Apple stopped reporting Mac sales in Q4 2018. All values afterwards are estimates

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    Over 15 Billion iPhones Have Been Sold Since 2007

    If we add in all of the iOS devices sold to date, the number surpasses 2 billion. Between the launch of its first model in 2007 and 2015, Apple iPhone sales statistics have seen a steady yearly growth. After a dip in 2016, there has been a steady growth trend in the past couple of years. The number of iPhones sold in 2007 was only 1.39 million.

    Freedom From Apple Ecosystem

    Another major point for Android devices is that they dont rely on Apples device and software ecosystem. Users can mix and match hardware accessories and software to their liking. Rogers writes, The only reason why people stay with an iPhone is because they are locked into the FaceTime and AirDrop ecosystem.

    With that freedom, you often pay less. Being forced into Apples ecosystem means that they can charge a premium for their devices, as their competition isnt as much as an issue.

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    You Might Want To Turn Off This Camera Feature For Now

    Phones in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineup can record HDR — or high dynamic range — video with Dolby Vision. All that jargon means your videos will be brighter with more accurate colors and improved contrast. Sounds awesome, right? It is. But there’s a problem — not every app or service will work with HDR video.

    Developers will need to update their app in order to accept HDR video, but even then, the person viewing the video will need a capable device to see the HDR difference. For Apple devices, that includes the iPhone 8 or newer, the 2020 iPad Air, second-generation iPad Pro and some Macs.

    So, what can you do? Well, you have a few options:

    Customize your home screen on iOS 14 and the iPhone 12.

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