Among the many ways people use their connected devices, communication remains central to most users’ activities. Communication became more important than ever as employees working from home sought to collaborate and meet during the pandemic. Simultaneously, people not employed outside the home reached out for connections and information. From video calls to group meetings such as using Zoom or Microsoft Teams, many users shifted their communication patterns and adopted new tools. This MetaFAQs report details the market penetration of regular use of many types of communication tools across the US, UK, Germany, and Japan, each split by age group.
Mobile Phones TUP Lens
Smartphones have rapidly, although not completely, replaced feature phones. Smartphone users have expanded their range of activities with new uses while also increasingly migrating activities from computers and tablets. This TUP Highlights Report profiles smartphones – their market penetration, user demographic profile, regular activities, usage profile, key competitors, and purchase plans.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: penetration of smartphones versus feature phones, smartphone brand share, top activities for smartphones, smartphone carrier share, smartphone usage profile, trends in technology ecosystems, major activities for a market segment, and the profile of smartphone users.
Samsung user profile [MetaFAQs]
Samsung’s share of the installed base varies by country and within user age groups. This MetaFAQs reports on Samsung’s share by country, age group, and employment status.
Top activities across platforms [TUPdate]
There are certain activities that transcend form factors, such that they are popular with every type. This TUPdate identifies regular activities that are high on the list for smartphones, PCs, and tablets, those popular on two of the three, or unique to one type.
Top smartphone activities [TUPdate]
What we do defines us more than what we are carrying. This MetaFAQs profiles smartphone users by their regular activities – those which are most popular worldwide and those unique to the country. It further splits out activities into four groups: younger and older adults that are employed versus those who are not employed outside the home.
Communication patterns shift showing Zoom fatigue
Email continues to lead as the major communication activity across all devices. One-to-one video calls have grown rapidly. Worldwide and US employees are showing their Zoom/Webex fatigue, as both work and personal web-based group meetings have subsided.
Communication distinctive for remote workers [TUPdate]
Working from home requires more communication than ever, both a broad range of devices (smartphones, computers, tablets), and types (calls, messages, meetings with and without video). Employees working from home use computers for different communication activities than they do with smartphones. This TUPdate compares a detailed list of communication activities among those working from home and those not working from home, and also identifies which devices – PCs, smartphones, or others – are used the most for communication by work from home status.
Activities for PCs versus smartphones
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, September 13, 2021
Which device gets chosen for which activities?

Demographics profile of smartphone users [MetaFAQs]
While smartphone adoption has grown to dominance, market penetration has not been equal across all demographic groups. This MetaFAQs reports on the penetration of active smartphone use by employment status, age group, and work-from-home status for the US and globally (US, Germany, UK, Japan, China-upper-educated).
Smartphones evolve into primacy [TUPdate]
Smartphones are above the 50% mark for nearly every type of activity and for being used for the most activities within that type. Worldwide, over half of users mostly use a smartphone for communications, social networking, shopping, and graphics/imaging. PCs still form a primary platform for many shopping activities.