Pew Survey Finds Half Of Adults In The US Own A Smartphone Or Tablet

A new survey has been published by Pew looking at the adult US population who owns a smartphone or tablet. According to the survey, half of all adults in the US currently have a mobile web connection through a smartphone or tablet. That number is up significantly from a similar study conducted by the Pew Research Center last year.

The survey polled 9513 adults in the United States and was conducted online between June and August 2012. The survey results found that 22% of adults in the US own a tablet, which is twice the number from a year earlier. The survey also found that 44% of US adults have smartphones, a 35% increase from May of 2011.

Pew's survey found that cheaper Android tablets introduced in late 2011 "brought in a new crop of tablet owners." Pew's survey found 52% of tablet owners own the iPad, which is down from 81% from a year ago. 48% of the tablet owners polled own an Android tablet. Digging down even further, Pew discovered that 21% of those Android tablet owners were using a Kindle Fire.

Pew discovered that iPad owners are more likely to use their tablet to read news. On the other hand, Android tablet users were more likely to use their tablet for social networks. Other tidbits uncovered in the study showed that almost 2/3 of smartphone tablet owners use the devices to read news at least weekly. That puts news consumption in a virtual tie with other popular smartphone activities such as reading e-mail and playing games. The survey also indicated that mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones are increasing the amount of news people receive.

[via Computerworld]