Adults Owning a Smartphone · U.S. (Pew)

## What this measures

The share of U.S. adults who own a smartphone, from Pew Research Center surveys, May 2011 to June 2025.

## Why it matters

Comparing how fast households and people took up earlier technologies gives a yardstick for how fast AI is being taken up. Each series counts something a little different (a household owning a computer, an adult using the internet, owning a smartphone, using a chatbot), so compare speeds and shapes, not exact levels.

## How to read it

Higher means more adults own a smartphone. Ownership went from about a third (35% in 2011) to nine in ten (90% in 2023) in twelve years, and has held at 91% since 2024.

## What it does not say

It counts ownership, not how the phone is used. In 2011–2016 Pew asked often and in several survey modes, so readings a few weeks apart can differ by a few points; read the trend, not single readings. Pew asks less often now, so recent points are about a year apart.

## Source

Pew Research Center, Mobile Fact Sheet (surveys of U.S. adults, 2011–2025). Values are Pew's published figures, dated by survey. Citation: "Mobile Fact Sheet." Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/