Smartphone Fast Becoming ‘Most Pervasive’ Device in US Homes, CTA Says

Household ownership of wireless audio, wearables and connected devices saw the largest household ownership gains since 2015, CTA said in a Thursday report that cited survey results from its latest study of consumer tech ownership and market potential trends. The findings “verify that smartphones are now a household staple, with ownership trends beginning to mirror those of televisions, which remain the most pervasive tech product in U.S. households,” CTA said. TVs are now owned in 96 percent of U.S. homes, and there are now nearly as many TVs owned (320 million) as the U.S. population (321 million), CTA said. The number of respondents who say they plan never to buy a TV increased slightly to 22 percent from 18 percent in 2015, it said. That’s “likely due to diffusion of video consumption across multiple device screens,” CTA said. Smartphones are now owned in 74 percent of U.S. homes, up 2 percentage points from 2015, CTA said. “On average, Americans now own 2.4 smartphones per household, and the expected smartphone repeat purchase is 91 percent -- comparable only to television ownership trends.” The IoT “continues to drive growth in emerging tech devices,” CTA said: Wearable fitness activity trackers are owned by 20 percent of U.S. homes, double the number that owned them last year.