While some may argue that a smartphone is a smartphone regardless of its ecosystem, users beg to differ, as shown by their actions. This MetaFAQs profiles activity usage differences between iPhones and Android smartphones, Windows PCs, Apple Macs, and Chromebooks, and iPads, Android, and Windows tablets.
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.
User profile by operating system ecosystem
Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, October 13, 2021
Apple for youngest adults and Windows for the middle
- Windows has the broadest overall market penetration of any OS family
- Globally, Windows is strongest among adults who are employed, in larger households, working from home, and neither the oldest nor youngest
- Apple OS devices have their strongest market penetration among younger adults, especially those employed and working from home
- Apple’s global market penetration is supported in three ways: iPhones, Macs, and iPads
- The global penetration of Google OS devices is primarily supported by Android smartphones.
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.
Technology ecosystem device penetration by country, age, and employment status
One measure of an ecosystem’s breadth is its market penetration. This MetaFAQs splits out the percentage of online adults using major OS families and form factors – such as Windows PCs and iPhones – by country and by age 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.
Windows leads what Apple and Google divide [MetaFAQs]
Windows, Apple, and Google (Android, Chromebook) are each stronger or weaker by form factor and country. This MetaFAQs reports on the share of each OS ecosystem by country and within the US, by age group.
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.
American smartphone carrier brands [MetaFAQs]
Three carrier brands dominate American smartphone users. This MetaFAQs reports on the current share of smartphone brands actively used by online American adults.
Smartphone brand share by country [MetaFAQs]
The market share of actively used smartphones varies substantially by country. Apple leads where Samsung or Huawei don’t, and vice versa. This MetaFAQs reports on the share of active installed based on online adults in the US, Germany, UK, Japan, and China’s most-educated adults.