Surprising Mobile Stats from 2016

Let’s take a closer look at 20 mobile stats that show just how popular — and powerful — mobile devices have become. You may be shocked to discover just how much they’re changing the modern era and how profoundly the habits of both organizations and individuals are transforming around them.

1. A staggering 1.4 billion smartphones were sold in 2015 (App Annie).
2. Like high-speed 4G mobile internet connections? You’re not alone — more than 1 billion connections were made last year, and this figure is expected to increase to 2.6 billion in the next four years (App Annie).
3. More than 3 billion people worldwide now use the internet (Time), and 80 percent of them access it from smartphones (Smart Insights).
4. Of the 1.8 hours average users spend online on their smartphones each day, mobile apps account for 89 percent of this media time (Social Media Today).
5. The mobile ecosystem provided almost 17 million jobs in 2015 (GSMA).
6. The mobile industry generates $3.1 trillion in annual revenue — a whopping 4.2 percent of global GDP (App Annie). This figure will likely balloon to $3.7 trillion by 2020 (GSMA).
7. The majority of growth in digital media time is now being generated by the use of mobile devices, with desktop computers increasingly becoming a secondary device (Marketing Land).
8. By 2018, 8 in 10 email users will likely access their email accounts from their mobile devices (emailmonday).
9. The average consumer checks his or her smartphone 46 times a day, and in the US, people do this a collective 8 billion times every 24 hours (App Annie).
10. More than 50 percent of people immediately pick up and begin using their smartphones after they wake up (ExpressPigeon).
11. Almost 60 percent of marketers say mobile apps are crucial to creating a cohesive customer journey (Salesforce).
12. New markets are key to mobile growth, with more than 2.5 billion people in the developing world connected to the internet through mobile devices last year (GSMA).
13. Using a range of popular mobile messaging apps, more than 2.8 billion people reached out and made connections using their mobile devices in 2015 (App Annie).
14. Wearables promise to expand the mobile market. From connected watches to wristbands, 78.1 million wearable devices shipped in 2015 (International Data Corporation).
15. The average smartphone owner uses 2.9 GB of data every month (Time).
16. More than 4.8 billion people globally are expected to use a mobile phone by the end of 2016 (CNBC).
17. The advertising landscape is changing right before your eyes thanks to mobile. Mobile ads are primed to represent 72 percent of US ad spending within the next three years (eMarketer).
18. In 2015, iOS users downloaded 25 billion apps, and Android users downloaded 50 billion (Business of Apps).
19. Around 88 percent of customers who search for local businesses online will actually visit or call these businesses within a day (Social Media Today).
20. Hey, ladies — your mobile habits differ from men’s. Women are more likely to share content, take pictures and play games on their mobile devices, while men watch videos and read the news more frequently (Entrepreneur).

Noting these mobile stats, you can clearly see the burgeoning impact mobile devices are having on today’s business world. Businesses need to learn to connect and engage users through mobile platforms — going forward, this won’t just be important to business operations; it will also be vital to ensuring the future of your enterprise.