Smartphone data-based activities far outpace talking, study finds

The combined total minutes spent on activities requiring data connectivity on smartphones now far outpaces talking on these devices, according to the latest research released today by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Across different activities, smartphone owners spend an average of nearly two hours (114 minutes) using their devices each day. Talking remains the top activity, but the combined total minutes spent on activities requiring data connectivity now far surpasses telephony use, according to the CEA research. The top activities in terms of average time spent each day include talking (23 minutes), texting (20 minutes), using email (18 minutes), visiting websites (16 minutes) and social networking (11 minutes).

The results from CEA’s newest tracking study, Smartphones: Consumer Behavioral Trends, examine trends on consumer behaviour and sentiment regarding smartphones from June to August 2013.

“The degree to which consumers use their smartphones primarily as data information hubs, mostly forgoing devices’ traditional purpose, is significant,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and senior director of research, CEA.

“With growing ownership rates, it should be expected that the beginning signs of market saturation may appear within the next couple of years,” said Kevin Tillmann, senior research analyst, market research, CEA. “Yet, the near-term outlook for consumer purchase and upgrade intent remains bright for these devices, a positive sign that the smartphone market will continue to grow with new owners through 2014.”

To further understand which smartphone features consumers discuss, CEA monitored online social media conversations. The top three smartphone features, based on the number of discussions in August 2013, were body colour, battery and design.

Smartphone owners use a wide variety of apps on their devices. Three-fourths (73%) of smartphone owners indicate they use weather apps, making them the most popular type of application used with smartphones. Additionally, 60% use social networking apps, followed by games (57%), photo and video (55%) and navigation (55%).

In terms of mobile purchases, more than half of smartphone owners (52%) have used their devices to shop online. A plurality of smartphone shoppers (35%) prefer the mobile website experience when online shopping compared to the app (32%) or the full website (32%).