Mobile phones will be used by 4.55 billion people across the globe in 2014, according to the latest estimates from eMarketer. And smartphone users will total 1.75 billion by the end of 2014; this means nearly one-quarter of the worldwide population will use a smartphone at least monthly in the coming year.
Here are the highlights for mobile phone adoption:
- new users in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions will drive further growth
- between 2013 and 2017, mobile phone penetration will rise from 61% to 69% of the global population
- over 2.23 billion people worldwide, or nearly half (48.9%) of mobile phone users, will go online via mobile at least monthly in 2014
- the total number of mobile phone internet users will rise 16.5% in 2014 and maintain double-digit growth through 2016
When the data is narrowed to smartphones specifically, here are the numbers (and they’re pretty impressive):
- by the end of 2017, smartphone penetration among mobile phone users globally will near 50%
- smartphone users currently account for a majority of mobile phone users in 10 of the 22 countries studied; this will likely increase to 16 countries during 2014
The growth in smartphone use is huge for digital marketers around the world. How much effort is your brand focusing on mobile?
