Consumer Survey Explores the Market-Creating Power of Mobile

The Deloitte & Touche 2016 Global Mobile Consumer Survey confirms that mobile has become indispensable across all demographics and geographies. Now in its sixth year, Deloitte’s 2016 Global Mobile Consumer Survey explores consumer attitudes around mobile technology.

Key Finds Include:

Smartphone Have Become Indispensable
More than 40 percent of consumers check their phones within five minutes of waking up. As a first thing, we check our IM or text messages (35 percent), followed by emails (22 percent). During the day, we look at our phones approximately 47 times and that number rises to 82 for 18- to 24-year-olds. Once the day is over, over 30 percent of consumers check their devices five minutes before going to sleep, and about 50 percent in the middle of the night.

Outside of work, shopping still ranks as the No. 1 activity during which consumers use their phones, with 93 percent reported usage. Spending leisurely time and watching TV follow closely at 90 percent and 89 percent respectively. More than half of consumers (58 percent) report they have used their phones to browse a shopping website or app, and more than a third (38 percent) say they do so at least once a week. Nearly 40 percent say they have used their phones to pay for products.

Mobile Payments Remains Steady
Compared to last year, there is a slower increase in in-store mPayments usage but there is still considerable interest. Concerns about security continues to drop and users see more value in mobile payments

Changing Device Landscape
Smart watches tripled their market penetration from 4 percent to 12 percent today, while fitness bands reached 17 percent from last year’s 10 percent. Although these numbers are still smaller in comparison, the growth in wearables is good news for smartphones since it cements their role as an information hub.

The IoT Market is Taking Shape
Interest in home-based IoT showed the largest year-over-year increase, jumping 12 percentage points from 53 percent to 65 percent, surpassing interest in wearables. Additionally, willingness to pay has also risen considerably with consumers saying they are willing to pay extra for home monitoring services, and home control. In the car IoT front, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) say they would consider eventually owning or riding in an autonomous car. Similarly, interest in purchasing an autonomous vehicle has shot up from 18 percent in 2015 to 27 percent in this year, a relative increase of 50 percent.

Security and Privacy is Still Top of Mind
Consumers are not necessarily averse to sharing information. In fact, their willingness to do so has increased since last year, particularly among younger consumers. But they want to be the ones to determine what information gets shared. More than half of consumers who say they are interested in connected devices express willingness to share usage data with companies, as long as they can choose what information to share.

Youngest Aren’t Always Trendsetters
A typical technology adoption curve usually shows the youngest generation demonstrating the highest levels of interest and use. This year 25 to 34-year-olds leading the charge—sometimes by a dominant margin. The survey showed that with the technological know-how and the increased cash flow, 25 to 34-year-olds are demonstrating higher levels of mobile device interest and use.

Download the 2016 US Global mobile consumer survey: US edition executive summary to read more.