Smartphone users in urban India are a distinctly older population than they were just a few years ago, according to research from Ericsson.
Based on 2015 polling, a plurality of smartphone internet users in urban India-38%-are in their 20s. In 2013, this was also the largest group of urban smartphone users, but it encompassed nearly half of the total smartphone internet user population. The share of smartphone internet users ages 12 to 19 has also dropped, from 30% in 2013 to 17% this year.
Meanwhile, those in their 30s have nearly tripled their share of the smartphone internet user audience and now outnumber teens with smartphones. Users ages 50 and older, while they still make up just 4% of the population, have quadrupled their share.
Another demographic shift has happened with respect to education, though it’s not nearly as dramatic. Back in 2013, Ericsson found, 62% of the smartphone internet user base in urban areas had a college education or more. This year, that share has dropped to 55% as the audience has broadened.
eMarketer estimates that the total population of smartphone users in India?not just urban ones-will reach 167.9 million this year-just 26.3% of the mobile phone user base.
