The COVID pandemic made clear many socioeconomic inequities between Americans, as the impact of the virus was felt differently in great part depending on their educational attainment, occupation, employment status, and other factors.
This TUPdate focuses on one segment – Americans working full-time for an employer and with a household income of $150,000 or more per year – reporting their market size and profiling their usage of connected devices, which devices they do or don’t use, how much they use them, and the intensity of changes since before the pandemic.
Smartphones are primary for Americans under 50 while PCs lead among the 50+
Most Americans regularly use more than one connected device – smartphones, feature phones, PCs, tablets, and game consoles. This MetaFAQs reports on the online adult’s primary device – the one they use more often than other devices – comparing adults by their age group.
Smartphones ace out PCs among younger adults around the world
The majority of online adults are using more than one connected device – a mobile phone, PC, tablet, or game console. The device they use the most – their primary device – varies across age groups. More adults under age 35 primarily use a smartphone while those 35 and over rely on a computer. This MetaFAQs details the primary device of online adults by four age groups.
Smartphone penetration by socioeconomic groups
How different are advantaged from disadvantaged Americans in whether or not they use a smartphone? How much has this changed since before the pandemic? How do historically socioeconomically advantaged groups such as high-income or college graduates compare to disadvantaged groups such as single parents, low-income, less-educated, elderly, or people of color? This TUP analysis reports on the penetration of smartphones within each socioeconomic 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.
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.
Home printer use among socioeconomic groups
Among socioeconomically advantaged groups of American online adults, the use of home printers has grown between 2018 and 2021. Nationwide, however, and especially among disadvantaged groups, home printer use has declined. This MetaFAQs reports on the active use of home printers by American socioeconomic groups. The groups being reported consider age group, employment status, household size, ethnicity, presence of children, educational attainment, and other socioeconomic factors.
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.