In Some Markets, Mobile Voice Represents Less than 15% of Total Device Usage

Once upon a time, mobile phones freed people from the need to be near a fixed network phone to make and receive calls. These days, communications, though still a key function, often represent less than a third of total smartphone activities.

In a significant development, social networking actually dominates even “communications” usage. In other words, voice is a fundamental capability for a smartphone, but often is not even the most-used communications mode.

Smartphones are multi-function devices, used 30 percent of the time for communications in the United States, United Kingdom,  Japan and South Korea, and about 47 percent of the time in India.

Web browsing, games, entertainment and utility or productivity functions represent the other major categories of usage.

But which communication apps dominate varies widely as well. In the United States and United Kingdom, it is social networking which dominates communications. In the U.S. and U.K. markets, social networking represents 53 percent of total communications activity.

In other markets, such as India, voice represents 66 percent of communications activity, while in South Korea voice usage is 51 percent.