## Section 2 Smartphone Penetration and ICT Use and Application

In Section 1, we provided examples of new ICT services along with their current usage and future projections. What makes these services feasible is the prevalence of smartphones and other ICT devices as well as social media and other ICT services, which act as the bedrock for newer services. In this section, we look at the usage of ICT devices and services, and the conditions of their use, primarily based on a user survey conducted in Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, and China.

### 1. Usage rates of major ICT devices and services

### (1) Usage rates of major ICT devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.)

To find out the state of ICT device usage in the six countries, we asked, in a survey, about the devices people normally use for personal use. The overall smartphone usage rate (weighted average by age bracket) was just over 60 percent in Japan, whereas it was in the 80 percent range in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany and well over 90 percent in South Korea and China. The 40 percent usage rate for feature phones was unique to Japan. By age bracket, 87.0 percent of people in their 20s use smartphones, whereas 62.0 percent of people in their 60s use feature phones. This underscores that middle-aged people and older people have high feature-phone usage rates. Since most middle-aged and older users use mobile phones mainly for voice calls and email, there remain needs for feature phones (Figure 3-2-1-1).

### 2. Distinctive media use in the age of widespread smartphone adoption

## (1) Spread of social media

In the previous paragraph, we noted the rising use of social media and gave examples in the previous section on FinTech of how information on social media is being utilized, such as analyzing social media information with AI to decide whether to approve a loan. As applications like this show, social media has already started to become a mainstay of our social lives.

Here we present survey results on the usage rates of individual social media platforms. Respondents were shown the names of leading social media platforms and asked whether they use the platforms. The results are tabulated in the table below (Figure 3-2-2-1).

U.S. social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp, had relatively high usage rates in all countries. Facebook had the highest usage rate of all platforms in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and India. At the same

Figure 3-2-1-1 Devices normally used for personal use

(Unit: %)
Smartphones	Feature phones	Tablets
[Japan]
Overall weighted average	60.2	41.9	19.5
20s (N=200)	87.0	20.0	19.5
30s (N=200)	73.0	31.0	25.0
40s (N=200)	60.0	42.5	21.0
50s (N=200)	54.0	47.5	18.5
60s (N=200)	35.0	62.0	14.0
[US]
Overall weighted average	78.6	18.4	57.2
20s (N=200)	92.5	8.5	67.0
30s (N=200)	94.5	11.5	76.5
40s (N=200)	83.0	17.0	57.0
50s (N=200)	61.5	23.0	45.5
60s (N=200)	58.5	35.0	37.0
[UK]
Overall weighted average	82.3	13.9	55.6
20s (N=200)	95.5	4.5	61.5
30s (N=200)	92.5	7.5	66.0
40s (N=200)	85.0	12.0	52.5
50s (N=200)	71.0	21.5	46.0
60s (N=200)	64.5	26.0	51.5
[Germany]
Overall weighted average	82.3	20.2	45.8
20s (N=200)	97.5	9.5	52.0
30s (N=200)	94.0	9.0	56.5
40s (N=200)	85.5	15.5	46.0
50s (N=200)	74.0	30.0	44.5
60s (N=200)	62.0	35.5	29.5
[South Korea]
Overall weighted average	96.6	7.8	34.1
20s (N=200)	100.0	3.5	31.0
30s (N=200)	97.0	7.5	43.5
40s (N=200)	96.0	9.5	37.5
50s (N=200)	97.0	7.0	30.0
60s (N=200)	91.5	12.5	24.5
[China]
Overall weighted average	98.3	5.0	47.3
20s (N=200)	98.5	3.0	49.5
30s (N=200)	100.0	2.5	57.5
40s (N=200)	98.0	6.0	46.0
50s (N=213)	97.7	5.6	44.1
60s (N=187)	96.8	9.6	34.8

(Source) “Study Report on an International Analysis of User Perceptions of New Forms of ICT in the IoT Era,” MIC (2016)