How Many People Have Smartphones? (2014–2029)
Given the growth of mobile commerce, it’s become increasingly important for ecommerce business owners to focus their efforts on mobile marketing. In order to understand how many people have smartphones, let’s look at the latest smartphone user statistics.
How many people own a smartphone: key data
- In 2024, an estimated 4.48 billion people worldwide own a smartphone. This represents a 13.8% increase from the previous year.
- Analysts predict that the number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 6.18 billion in 2029, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the global population.
- From 2014 to 2029, the number of global smartphone users is projected to rise at an average annual growth rate of 13.1%.
- Smartphone penetration rates are higher in advanced economies like France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with adoption rates exceeding 80%.
How many people have smartphones (2014–2029): table
|
Year |
Number of smartphone users worldwide (in billions) |
Annual change |
|
2014 |
0.99 |
|
|
2015 |
1.19 |
+19.3% |
|
2016 |
1.38 |
+16.2% |
|
2017 |
1.58 |
+14.5% |
|
2018 |
1.84 |
+16.9% |
|
2019 |
2.17 |
+17.5% |
|
2020 |
2.58 |
+18.8% |
|
2021 |
2.96 |
+14.8% |
|
2022 |
3.40 |
+15.0% |
|
2023 |
3.94 |
+15.8% |
|
2024 |
4.48 |
+13.8% |
|
2025 |
4.93 |
+10.2% |
|
2026 |
5.37 |
+8.8% |
|
2027 |
5.73 |
+6.8% |
|
2028 |
5.98 |
+4.3% |
|
2029 |
6.18 |
+3.4% |
How many people have smartphones in 2024?
The latest mobile phone usage statistics worldwide show an increasing number of smartphone users year after year. In 2024, the number of global smartphone users is estimated at 4.48 billion, marking a 13.8% annual increase. This is 3.49 billion (4.5 times) more than the number of smartphone users there were in 2014, a decade ago.
In fact, from 2014 to 2024, the total number of global smartphone users grew at an average of 16.3% annually, with the biggest growth coming in 2015. That year, the number of smartphone users grew by 19.3%.
Smartphones are also currently the most popular electronic devices. The latest mobile phone usage statistics show that of all the devices being used today, smartphones are the most popular, with 97.4% of all internet users using them.
Reports estimate that going forward, the number of global smartphone users will continue to increase every year and is expected to hit 6.18 billion by 2029.
Given an expected global population of over 8.5 billion by then, that means that the smartphone penetration rate in 2029 will be around 72.7%. This means that nearly three out of every four people in the world will be equipped with a smartphone.
Smartphone penetration by country
|
Selected countries |
Smartphone penetration rate |
|
France |
82.6% |
|
United Kingdom |
82.2% |
|
Germany |
81.9% |
|
United States |
81.6% |
|
Japan |
78.6% |
|
Turkey |
75.0% |
|
Iran |
74.4% |
|
Russia |
73.6% |
|
Thailand |
73.4% |
|
China |
68.4% |
|
Indonesia |
68.1% |
|
Vietnam |
66.7% |
|
Brazil |
66.6% |
|
Egypt |
64.2% |
|
Mexico |
61.5% |
|
Philippines |
60.3% |
|
India |
46.5% |
|
Nigeria |
38.1% |
|
Pakistan |
31.0% |
|
Bangladesh |
30.4% |
Recent data shows that the number of smartphone users is unevenly distributed across different economies. As expected, smartphone ownership is significantly higher across advanced economies including most European countries and the US.
The latest statistics on smartphone penetration by country show that adoption is the highest in France—as many as 82.6% of the population there owns a smartphone. This is followed by the United Kingdom, with 82.2%, and Germany and the United States, with 81.9% and 81.6%, respectively. Japan rounds out the five countries with the highest smartphone penetration rates at 78.6%.
In emerging economies, however, smartphone usage drops sharply. For instance, just 66.6% of Brazil’s population owns a smartphone. This number falls to 46.5% in India. In Bangladesh, fewer than one in three people (30.4%) are smartphone users.