American households have embraced technology products and services in a big way for home entertainment, finances, shopping, and even working from home. This TUP Highlights report reports on important usage shifts and trends among American households: game consoles, smartwatches, printers, streaming music, video doorbells, VR headsets, and much more. Further, this report identifies the changes from 2019 to 2021 among socioeconomic groups that have been historically advantaged or disadvantaged. Included are the shifts in penetration rates for smartphones, PCs, home PCs, tablets, and home printers for the total market as well as within major market segments.
Highlights: User Profile
Sociodemographically distinct groups vary in composition, technology devices and services, and how they use what they have. Most advantaged groups have bolstered their technology collection during the pandemic and increased their usage levels. Most disadvantaged segments, meanwhile, have used what they have at hand more so than acquiring newer technology. Older millennials have the wealthiest collection of technology devices, well above that of every other age group. This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: usage segments, segments, and trends in segments.
Highlights: Technology Ecosystems
While some device makers focus on speeds, feeds, and features, others are playing the long game to build long-term customer loyalty through ecosystems. This TUP Technology Ecosystems Highlights report reports on the size of leading technology ecosystems, which types of devices are dominating (or not), and their longer-term trends. It details the unique activities users focus on within certain ecosystems, and profiles each ecosystem’s users.
Highlights: Activities
What we do paints a richer picture than what we carry or own. All computers are not used the same and nor are smartphones or tablets. Each user has their preference about how they spend their time. Also, each user expresses their choices about which connected devices they turn to for each type of activity. While some see their tablets as passive movie screens, others rely on them as communication hubs. Some users prefer to shop on a computer, while others rely more on their smartphones.
This TUP Highlights report includes the following sections: main activities across all tech devices, major activities for each device type, activities unique to which device type, cross-device activities, the profile of activity type users, major activities for a market segment, home entertainment activities, the profile by key activities, and listening activities.
Profile of American enterprise employees using Apple/Windows work computers
How have Apple Macs done in US enterprise? Are certain American enterprise employees more Apple Mac-oriented than others? Are Macs used more in certain employer roles or industries? This TUP analysis reports on the split between Apple and Windows computers by employer role and industry, as well as the trend in same-versus-mixed OS usage among employees in American organizations with 1,000 or more employees.
Game console use among socioeconomic groups
Just over one-third of online American adults regularly use a game console. Penetration rates vary widely between socioeconomic groups, with American IT employees having some of the highest rates and seniors aged 75 and higher having some of the lowest. This MetaFAQs reports on the penetration of game consoles by major socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged groups.
Highlights: Devices
There has been a sea change in which connected devices people use as well as how they use them. This TUP Highlights report details the trends in device ownership, the shifts between technology ecosystems, and market penetration levels. It spells out the major activities for each type of device, and how usage has changed. Furthermore, it details how many employees use personal devices for remote work.
On-device video and movie watching among socioeconomic groups
Smartphones, tablets, and PCs are increasingly used to watch movies and videos. However, it is a regressive activity, being done more often among socioeconomically disadvantaged than advantaged groups. This MetaFAQs reports on the share of Americans regularly using their connected devices to watch movies and videos both before the pandemic (TUP 2019) and through 2021. The groups being reported consider age group, employment status, household size, ethnicity, presence of children, educational attainment, and other socioeconomic factors.
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.
Highlights: Printers
Who’s printing—and what are they printing? TUP Highlights include a broad and deep dive into an essential technology usage topic.
This highlights report focuses on printers, including: top printer brands, purchase plans for printers, top printing activities, profile of intensive printer users, ink use, trends in printing, major activities for a market segment, top printer form factors, and profile of printer user by activity. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services during the wave of TUP/Technology User Profile 2021, which is TUP’s 39th annual. TUP Highlights typically also include results from previous waves of TUP.