The total global monthly cellular data usage across all mobile app categories reached 146.92 EB in January 2025

Key takeaways:

  • Video apps consumed 75.86% of the total global mobile data, making them by far the largest data users.
  • Social networking apps accounted for 7.84% of the total data usage, translating to 11.52 exabytes.
  • The "Others" category, which includes smaller app groups, made up 10.48% of global mobile data usage.
  • Software updates consumed 2.73% of the global mobile data volume, equivalent to 4.01 exabytes.
  • Web browsing took up 1.42% of mobile data use globally, accounting for 2.09 exabytes.
  • Audio apps like streaming music services accounted for 1.20% of the total mobile data usage.
  • File sharing applications consumed just 0.47% of the mobile data globally, indicating a relatively small share compared to other categories.

Video applications dominate cellular data consumption, accounting for a staggering 75.86% of all mobile data usage in January 2025. Out of the total 146.92 exabytes used globally across mobile apps, 111.45 EB were spent solely on video content apps. This highlights just how central video streaming and sharing have become to our daily mobile experience. It’s not just about entertainment anymore—video is now the language of connection, communication, and even education. A huge portion of the world's population is scrolling through TikTok daily, others are catching up on YouTube tutorials, while some are watching Netflix series. This everyday scene reflects the massive scale of video’s hold on global mobile behaviour.

Source:

Ericsson Mobile

Period:

2024
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