Pew study: 35% of U.S. adults own a smartphone

More than one-third of all U.S. adults have a smartphone, according to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, one of the clearest snapshots yet of how smartphones are changing the U.S. mobile landscape.

The survey found that 89 percent of all U.S. adults have some kind of cell phone and that 42 percent of those are smartphone owners, which translates into 35 percent of all U.S. adults. Pew broke the survey results down by varying demographic groups, and found that Android devices are the most popular, and that smartphones are more popular among the affluent.

Interestingly, the survey, which was based on a sampling of 2,277 adults, found that among smartphone owners, 87 percent said they used the Web or email on their device and 68 percent said they go online daily. A full quarter of smartphone users said they go online mostly via their device, though roughly one-third of those respondents do not have access to a broadband Internet connection at home.

Of those who own a smartphone, the survey found, 35 percent have a device running Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform, followed by 24 percent each for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry. Those with a Palm device made up 6 percent and those with a Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows device made up 4 percent. The survey found that Android phones are especially common among young adults and African-Americans, while iPhones and BlackBerry devices are most popular among college graduates and the financially well-off.

Not surprisingly, smartphones, which are often more expensive than non-smartphones, are most popular among the affluent. Among those making $150,000 a year and above, smartphone ownership came in at 73 percent. A full 59 percent of adults living in a household earning income of $75,000 or more are smartphone users, and 48 percent of those with a college degree own smartphones.

Smartphone ownership also tended to trend younger and away from rural customers. The pew survey found that 58 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 now own a smartphone, as do 49 percent of those ages 18-24.

For more:
- see this Pew release
- see this WSJ blog post (sub. req.)

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