Smartphone ownership becomes dominant

Published May 2, 2014 by Robert Powell, III

The Arlington-based Consumer Electronics Association says nearly two-thirds of U.S. households now own smartphones, surpassing the ownership of basic cellphones for the first time.

A study released by the CEA found that 64 percent of households now have smartphones, compared with 51 percent of households with traditional wireless phones.

The study also showed consumer demand for mobile devices remains strong.

Smartphones are the top consumer electronics products that U.S. households plan to purchase this year, followed by headphones; televisions; laptop, notebook or netbook computers; and tablets.

During the past year, households also continued to buy “connected” devices, with several categories seeing strong growth. The highest gains in household penetration came from Internet-enabled TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, tablets, smartphones and portable wireless speakers.

While online retail sales continued to grow, 85 percent of U.S. households buying consumer electronic products in the last year made their purchases at brick-and-mortar retail stores.

The Consumer Electronics Association is a technology trade association with more than 2,000 member companies in the $208 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry.