Tablet ownership as of May 2013 is closing in on a majority of Americans who are online, eight to 64, across the United States, with 44 percent of the population owning a tablet in their household - up from 30 percent in 2012 - a 47 percent growth rate in just one year. Already a majority of online Americans (54 percent) ages 18 to 34 own a tablet.
If you're online at all, you probably own a smartphone: 61 percent of all online Americans do. And more than three quarters of the 18-24-year-olds who have online access also own a smartphone.
Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, a unit of Frank N. Magid Associates, Inc. says, "America is not just a connected country now, but a mobile-connected country." Magid has just concluded its 2013 Magid Media Futures study, which includes a section dedicated to tablets and smartphones. The study covers a nationally representative population of 2,400 respondents who are eight to 64 years old and have access to the Internet.
More than half of all tablet owners in the U.S. have Apple's full-sized iPad. When you count in iPad minis, the number goes up to 59 percent of all tablet owners. Amazon's Kindle Fire is next in popularity, with 31 percent of tablet owners going with the Kindle Fire, and Samsung is in third place, with 19 percent of tablet owners owning a Samsung device. A third (32 percent) of tablet owners have multiple brands of tablet devices in their household.
Android smartphones now account for a majority of smartphone owners in the U.S. at 53 percent vs. iPhones at 41 percent. Samsung captures the largest group of Android owners at 50 percent (26 percent of all smartphones).
App spending was up huge in both the tablet and smartphone markets over the last 12 months. Tablet spending on apps grew 42 percent year-to-year, while smartphone spending on apps grew 44 percent year-to-year. Tablet spending on apps in the last 12 months was $2.3 billion among American tablet owners. For smartphone owners the app spend in the last 12 months was $1.7 billion.
"The smartphone has become a mini-TV for many consumers," Vorhaus said, with 38 percent of smartphone owners regularly watching video on their smartphones and almost 40 percent of those consumers are watching full-length movies and TV shows on their smartphones (16 percent of all smartphone owners).
Tablet users are also big fans of watching video on their tablets with 63 percent of tablet owners saying they regularly watch video on their tablets. Much of this tablet viewing is full-length movies and TV shows with 69 percent of all tablet video viewers regularly watching long-form video, which is 42 percent of all tablet owners.
In the year ahead Magid anticipates major growth in smartphone and tablet penetration in the U.S. By this time next year Magid estimates that 67 percent of online Americans, ages eight to 64, will have a smartphone and 54 percent of online Americans will have a tablet. That represents a 10 percent year-over-year predicted growth rate for smartphones in the U.S. and 20 percent growth for tablets.
