The number of smartphone handsets globally has increased by 4.43B in the last 10 years

Number of smartphone handsets in use around the world (2015 - 2025)

Key takeaways:

From 2.99B in 2015 to 7.42B in January 2025, the world has added more than 4.4 billion smartphone devices in a decade.
Annual growth dropped from a high of 23.1% in 2016 to 3.6% in 2025, a clear sign of global market saturation.
During 2016-2018, the world added nearly 2 billion new smartphones.
Since 2020, annual growth has been under 6%.
Most of the future growth will come from device upgrades or multiple device ownership, not necessarily new smartphone users.

The number of smartphone handsets in use globally has risen from 2.99 billion in 2015 to 7.42 billion in January 2025. That’s an increase of over 4.4 billion devices, showing just how much smartphones have become a basic part of life around the world. However, while the numbers keep rising, the pace of growth is clearly slowing down, revealing that the market is maturing. The explosive growth years are behind us. More people already own smartphones, and there are fewer "first-time" users entering the market compared to previous years.

Source:

Ericsson

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Period:

2015 - 2025

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