I struggle to come up with new ways to discuss mobile stats as I release my new statistical volumes, but for the TomiAhonen Phone Book 2016 that just came out on Friday (with all data current as of the end of the year 2016, ie end of December 2016) I think I came up with another way to help our industry understand the mobile phone 'normal' typical user, a little bit better. Lets talk about the 'median' user. Not the average user, because averages can be distorted by extreme numbers, but taking the median. The exact mid-point where half are 'better' and half are 'weaker' in this case, for a mobile phone population, by their performance metrics, ie their various features. Lets explore the 'median' phone. If all 5.8 Billion mobile phone handsets in use were to be laid end-to-end, with top iPhones at one end and basic text-based super-cheap phones at the other end, what is the mid-point phone, at 2.9 Billion plus one. The phone that sits at 2,900,000,001. Our median phone? What specs would that phone have. The theoretical 'most common phone' that anyone on the planet might have today, in their pockets. Not the median phone specs that were being sold in December, when last year 1.9 Billion new mobile phones were sold (three quarters of them were smartphones). I mean, really, 'seriously' the most useful valuable metric. The MEDIAN PHONE in use in the world today? That would be a brilliant guide for anyone reading this blog, to consider the 'typical mobile user' globally, wouldn't it be? And we do have that information! Lets see what the new Phone Book 2016 tells us.
So just lets get the big numbers straight. The world has a human population of 7.4 Billion people alive of any age. For those people there are 7.8 Billion mobile subscriptions/accounts (SIM cards) either prepaid or postpaid. BTW, the median phone will be on a prepaid account (says the Phone Book 2016). It will be a 3G phone connected to a 3G network but not a 4G phone yet. So for those 7.4 Billio n people with 7.8 Billion active mobile accounts, how many actual mobile phone handsets do we have in use? 5.8 Billion only. Some people have two, three even four or more SIM cards they swap into their one phone (this is very typical of consumers in the Emerging World) while others of us, like probably you and me reading this blog, for us two accounts equals also two phones in our pockets. But yes, so the big numbers we're looking at, right now, is a total planetary population of 5.8 Billion mobile phone handsets in use. And our typical phone, the median phone where exactly half are better and half are worse? It is no longer a featurephone in year 2016, for the first time that median phone is yes, a smartphone. Not an iPhone or Blackberry or Windows based smartphone, the median phone runs Android.
Lets look at this median device a bit more. On page 43 of the Phone Book we have a wonderful table that tells us a lot about the installed base of all phones in the world by the tech nical features. You and I have WiFi, GPS and NFC on our phones, the median phone does not have such 'advanced' features. The Phone Book reveals that for example GPS is only on 28% of all phones in use. But the median phone is a touch-screen phone. It will have an HTML browser, in fact 83% of all mobile handsets in use worldwide now have an HTML browser. The median phone will alsol have a camera, Bluetooth and a memory card slot. It will support Java apps. Of course it does the basics, has a color screen, supports SMS and MMS and has a media player. That all we learn just on page 43.
Then what about some specifics. What about that screen? Do we know the screen size? Page 60 has the table for us. The median phone is not a phablet, it is a small touch-screen phone by screen size, similar to the original iPhone, with a screen smaller than 4 inches in size, but just barely now, at the end of year 2016, yes, the median phone has a touch screen. A small touch screen but that is the s pecs we are looking at, if you want the exactly 'most common' type of phone, if you were for example designing a mobile service or program or app or game. Page 56 tells us the camera on the exact median phone has a resolution of 3 megapixels. Is it used for business or personal use? Page 80 gives us that answer, this is not a phone for business use including BYOD phones, the median phone is a personal phone. Page 39 meanwhile tells us the phone has an average replacement cycle of 29 months. It means the median phone owner bought their phone a year and 3 months ago, and will still hold onto this phone for another year and 2 months before replacing it.
And what is the price paid of exactly the median phone in 2016 when both smartphones and dumphones are calculated into the price equation? The median phone owner paid 193 dollars for their prized possession last year, worldwide. (BTW this is pretty darned close to exactly the price of fhe new Nokia branded Android smartphones comi ng out in February, designed by HMD and manufactured by Foxconn). Don't you just love the Phone Book 2016? Who else has this kind of data for you? How incredibly valuable is this for your team considering what the 'typical' internet user is like globally? Or the user of your mobile wallet or the one consuming your ad or game or music or service? And where can you see these specs for free today?
The Median Mobile Phone Handset In Use on the Planet 2016 Specs:Smartphone on AndroidTouch ScreenSmaller than 4 inch screen size3mp camera3G phone on 3G networkPrepaid contractBluetoothMicroSD card slotFM RadioBut no WiFi, no NFC, no GPS, no 4GIs one year and 3 months oldOwner will hold onto the phone for another 1 year and 2 monthsAverage price paid 193 dollars (unsubsidised price/SIM-free/no contract)Source: TomiAhonen Phone Book 2016
The above table may be freely shared.
There! A novel way to explore the planet's most popular gadget, thanks to the brand new TomiAhonen Pho ne Book 2016. All the stats and facts you could hope for, in one ebook, that has 180 pages, over 100 tables and charts of every conceivable mobile fact and data item, and the whole thing is formated to fit on your smartphone so you can carry all the handset statistics in your pocket every day. The whole thing just costs a lousy 10 Euros too. Get your Phone Book 2016 today
Source: The Median Phone on the Planet? For the First Time is now a Smartphone at the end of 2016, no longer a dumbphone
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