More Adults Will Own A Smartphone Next Year

Smartphones are everywhere. Almost everyone you know has a smartphone these days, or it certainly feels that way. Yet, there are still a number of people who do not own a smartphone.

A projection for 2018 though has shown that at least two thirds of adults will be owning a smartphone by the end of next year.

Two thirds or 66.6% of people worldwide will have at least one smartphone. That is according to Zenith. However, while there would be more people who would be owning smartphones, the market is getting oversaturated as well.

Smartphone sales have been slowing down, due in part to too many people owning smartphones and the technology not moving forward as fast as it once did. Another reason is that the market simply has too many smartphones around competing. Many of these smartphones are Chinese knock-offs, and most of them are flooding the Asian market.

Smartphone adoption is still growing!

Still, even with over-saturation, smartphone ownership has risen by 10 percent this year and is expected to grow by as much as seven percent by 2018. That would still be good news for many smartphone manufacturers, even though there simply are too many cheap smartphones around.

The Netherlands leads the way with 94 percent of its adult population having smartphones by 2018. The U.S. and UK will have 70 percent of adults having a smartphone, while Pakistan has the lowest with only 36 percent of its adults having one.

For eCommerce and advertising, this is good news as well. Many companies are now targeting mobile, with WiFi coverage being more broad. The use of smartphones in eCommerce has been noted as well, with many retailers having mobile versions of their sites. Transactions through mobile phone has been noted to have increased also.

As more people are having smartphones, these trends will just continue. Mobile gaming would also be increased as more gamers will see mobile gaming to be just as serious as console and PC gaming.

How do you think this will impact eCommerce in the coming years? Will you start focusing more time on your mobile customers rather than desktop ones? Do leave your thoughts below.

If you liked this article and would like to engage with other small business entrepreneurs selling on marketplaces, join our . You can also find us on , , , and or sign up for our newsletter below.