Most Popular Devices in the US
The latest data shows that in the United States, smartphones are currently the most popular devices among consumers, with 96.4% of them owning the device. It marks a fractional 0.3% increase from the previous year.
The high ownership of smartphones in the US is in line with the number of cellular mobile connections. At 383.4 million, this number actually represents 113.1% of the US population. In other words, there are more mobile lines than people in the US.
Smartphones are also consumers’ favorite device to access the internet—nearly nine in 10 (89.6%) people say they use their smartphones to go online.
Computers (both desktops and laptops) and tablets are the second- and third-most-popular electronic devices. Just over two in three people (67.6%) in the US own a laptop and/or desktop, and nearly half (46.7%) own tablets. Laptops and desktops are also one of the most popular devices used to go online, with 74.8% of the US population choosing to access the internet on their computers.
This is followed by TV streaming devices and games consoles, owned by 39.3% and 38.9% of the population, respectively. Smartwatches or smart wristbands are also rather popular—they are owned by one out of every three (33.1%) consumers.
Virtual reality devices and feature phones round out the list of the most popular devices in the US—owned by 8.3% and 3.9% of the population, respectively.
Most popular devices in the US: annual changes
The most popular tech gadgets to have increased in ownership over the past year are virtual reality devices. Ownership increased 29.7% year over year. This is followed by:
- Smart home devices: +17.4%
- Smartwatch or smart wristbands: +10.3%
- TV streaming devices: +7.1%
- Games consoles: +4.9%
- Smartphones: +0.3%
Despite ranking as the two most popular devices in the US, laptops, desktops, and tablet devices have actually seen a slight fall in ownership from the previous year. The proportion of US consumers who own laptops or computers fell by 2.2%, while that of tablets fell by 2.7%.
The largest fall was experienced by feature phones, with the number of people in the US owning feature phones decreasing by 13.3%.