Nearly 80% of NZ adults will have a smartphone within a year

Nearly 80% of New Zealand adults will have a smartphone within a year

Around 79% of all adults in New Zealand will have a smartphone by September next year.

A Horizon Research survey finds 69% of people aged 18+ now have smartphones.

Another 10.4% say they intend to get one by next September, leaving just 20.6% of the adult population without one.

That means around 332,700 more using smartphones by September 2015.

By that time around 2,540,000 adults will have one of the devices – a major market for telephone service providers, retail, advertising and other businesses.

Within a year 21% only of the adult population will not have one of the smart devices.

Among some groups, like those with personal incomes of more than $150,000 a year, the research indicates all have a smartphone already.

Ownership by gender:
Latest results continue to show more men (78%) own smartphones than women (60%).

The survey finds 15% of women say they intend to get one in the next 12 months compared with 5.4% of men. Some 16.4% of men and 24.9% of women say they have no plan to get a smartphone.

Age:
Nine out of 10 of respondents aged 18-24 had a smartphone and 86% of those aged 25-34. Ownership decreased by age to 47.6% of those aged 65-74 and 23% of those aged 75+.

Personal income:
Smartphone ownership hits 100% among those with personal incomes above $150,000 a year.

It is lowest among those earning between $20,001 and $30,000 a year. About 89% of middle income adults have a smartphone.

Type:
Androids dominate the market (41.7%) followed by iPhone (19.6%) and Windows (3.3%) while 4.4% of respondents had a smartphone but were not sure what type it was.

Ethnicity:
By September 2015, 26.3% of Maori adults still won’t have a smartphone, compared with 25.4% of European/Pakeha adults.

At that time just 2.6% of Indian and 10.6% of Asian adults do not intend to have a smartphone.

Occupation:
Smartphone possession is highest among Professionals and senior government officials (89.8%), technical mechanical and skilled workers (88.6%) and business managers and executives (85.9%).

It is lowest among farm owners and managers (19.3%) and those who are retired and on superannuation (45.5%). Homemakers otherwise not employed are well connected (85.2%).

By occupation, farm owners and managers are the largest group intending to get a smartphone by September next year. 56.4% of farm owner/ manager respondents intend to get one, well above the 10.4% result for adults overall.

Horizon Research surveyed 1088 adults between September 13 and October 14, 2014. Results are weighted to represent the national adult population at the 2013 census. At a 95% confidence level the maximum margin of error is +/- 3%.

Tables and graphs associated with these results are here.

ENDS

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