Smartphones Top 50% Mark in U.S.: Pew Research

Since the first study for this project in May 2011, smartphone penetration has risen from 35% to 56%, while feature phone share has dropped from 48% to 35%. The number of Americans who do not own a cell phone of any kind has dropped from 17% to 9%.

Smartphone owners are generally younger, better educated, and have more income than feature phone users. By race and ethnicity, white/non-Hispanic Americans trail both black/non-Hispanic and Hispanic Americans by 53% to 64% and 60%, respectively.

Grouped by age and income, 90% of 18-29 year olds with incomes of $75,000 or more own smartphones, compared with just 43% of those age 65 or older at similar income levels own smartphones.

Both iPhones from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and smartphones using the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) have posted significant sales gains since 2011. Apple’s share of those surveyed by Pew rose from 10% to 25%, while Android users grew from 15% to 28%. BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) has seen its share drop from 10% to 4% and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has seen its share fall from 2% to 1% among the 56% of cell phone owners with smartphones.

The younger you are, the more likely it is that you use an Android-powered phone. Android phones lead in every age group until smartphone owners reach 55 years of age. But Apple leads in users with college degrees and with users who earn more than $75,000 a year.

Provided that wireless carrier costs don’t fly through the roof, it appears that U.S. consumers will continue to migrate to smartphones at a very rapid rate. The phones themselves are getting cheaper and that will add to the adoption rate as well.