We live in such a fast-paced environment; we hardly ever get the time to sit down, open our PCs or laptops, and randomly browse the Internet or watch a movie online. And here’s why mobile vs desktop stats really get interesting.
In the past decade, we’ve been witnessing a massive shift towards mobile. More and more people are starting to use mobile devices on a daily basis for the purposes they used to turn on their desktops in the past.
Given that mobile devices have become extremely performant, and in some cases, they’re even better than standard desktop PCs, it comes as no surprise that the use of smartphones is now more mainstream than the use of traditional computers.
Sure, nothing can replace PCs and laptops when it comes to programming or doing other jobs that require these static devices, but when it comes to the average day-to-day user, smartphones are definitely the way of the future.
General Mobile Vs Desktop Internet Usage Statistics
Before we dive into the specifics of this topic, we must first have an overview of the general mobile vs desktop Internet usage statistics, so we can better understand this industry’s trends.
Over 50% of the total Internet traffic comes from mobile phones.
This statistic applies for the year 2021, and it is important to take into account that the numbers don’t include tablets, which would drive mobile traffic even higher.
India, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya are among the most important countries that went straight to mobile.
Since smartphones and other mobile devices became more affordable, these countries never went through a desktop/laptop phase.
24.5% is the growth in the number of mobile phone users worldwide.
The numbers apply for 2021, and the increase in mobile usage is compared to the year before.
People spend 55 minutes more time on smartphones today than they did 5 years ago.
In 2017, they were spending an average of 188 minutes per annum, while in 2022, the numbers went up to 243 minutes.
72.9% of all e-commerce sales are now mobile.
In 2017, the numbers only reached 39%, so we’re talking about a very impressive growth.
0.2% was the mobile bounce rate as of the end of 2020.
That’s extremely low, considering desktop bounce rates worldwide.
Since 2017, mobile has surpassed the 50% share mark every year.
Leaving desktop traffic to continue its decrease in numbers.
Mobile traffic reached 53% of the total web traffic in 2017.
7.8 trillion page views from mobile devices were recorded that year in the United States alone.
Today, it is estimated that 51% of all people in the United States use mobile devices to access the Internet.
Which leaves only 49% of the traffic to desktop devices installed around the country.
With 70%, Africa has the highest percentage of mobile users out of all the other continents.
That’s because most African nations have skipped the adoption of laptops and desktops due to high prices in this sector.
63% is the share of mobile users in Asia.
Which makes the continent second only to Africa, while Europe comes in third place with 51% of its users on mobile devices.
4 billion unique mobile users are currently accessing the Internet.
To put things in a better perspective, that’s over 50% of the world’s total population.
46% is the growth of the total Internet mobile traffic between 2016-2021.
You hardly ever see any industries with such impressive growth in such a short period of time.
14.6 exabytes was the total mobile traffic recorded in 2018.
By the end of 2021, mobile traffic has increased 3-fold, reaching 48.3 exabytes in just 3 years.
Approximately 65% of all digital media budgets target mobile devices worldwide.
Advertisers are going where their clients are, and that’s why most companies are switching to a mobile-first policy.
The global mobile market share is approximately 13% higher than the desktop market share.
This means that corporations worldwide will start targeting more clients even more in the next decade.
Approximately 55% was the global market for mobile gadgets in 2021.
The total desktop market reached 42% during the same year, while tablets only accounted for 3% of the market share.
16.7 minutes is the average duration of an Internet journey on desktop devices.
These numbers apply for the end of 2020, and they will most likely drop a little in 2023.
Approximately 10.4 minutes is the average duration of a mobile Internet journey.
In 2020, people only spent about 10 minutes browsing websites from their mobile phones when it came down to just one recorded customer journey.
Mobile Vs. Desktop Search Statistics
Almost all Internet journeys nowadays begin with a search on Google or any other search engine, and that’s why mobile vs desktop search statistics are extremely important.
58% of all the searches conducted online are mobile.
These Mobile vs desktop search statistics are provided by Google, as they are the leading search engine worldwide.
Over 50% of the global page views come from mobile devices.
In 2021, it became clearer than ever that all websites need to be responsive and have a design focused on the mobile user’s experience and journey.
$21.55 billion is the total estimated mobile search ad revenue for 2022.
And these numbers apply only to the United States. Imagine just how big this market is worldwide!
$8.97 billion was the total value of mobile search ads in 2015.
As you can see, the growth is quite impressive.
$19.8 billion is the total estimated desktop search ad revenue in 2022.
All the numbers and mobile vs desktop search statistics show that mobile is increasingly the most popular sector out of the two.
$37.43 billion was the total amount spent on mobile search advertising in 2020.
Yet again, the total spending we are talking about applies only to the United States, as they have the most updated mobile vs desktop statistics.
In 2015, the total spending on mobile search advertising was “just” $14.17 billion.
As you can see, the numbers have more than doubled since then.
79% of overall keywords rank differently on mobile vs desktop search results.
That’s according to SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages) insights for 2022.
47% of keywords finding themselves in positions 1 to 20 rank differently on mobile devices, as opposed to desktop searches.
That’s close to half of the total search results you’ll get on the first 2 pages of Google.
35% of the first ranking pages on mobile are different than the ones on desktop searches.
That means that more than 1 out of every 3 searches you make will show a different first result on mobile as opposed to desktop devices.
More than 6 out of every 10 organic searches will give you different results on mobile as opposed to desktop queries.
This means that you will find different information based on the device you are currently using.
Over 60% of all search results will differ from mobile vs desktop.
And you should actually try this yourself the next time you’re looking something up online, just to see which results offer you the most relevant information to your search query.
Approximately 2 hours and 23 minutes is the average daily time spent online by a person using a mobile device.
Let’s not forget that there are only 24 hours in a day, so this is quite a significant amount of time spent online per day.
143 minutes is the average amount of time spent browsing the Internet from mobile devices.
This is just to put things in another perspective when it comes to the time the average person has spent online from a mobile device in 2021.
35 minutes is the average time spent online per day by a person using a desktop device.
If you think about it, that’s significantly less than the time spent browsing the web from a smartphone.
Approximately 17% of all websites listed on Google in 2020 had the same positions on mobile and desktop devices.
That’s less than 2 out of every 10 websites that are struggling to maintain better search rankings.
Just 1 out of every 10 websites has managed to maintain the same ranking for a designated keyword.
And that’s based on a SemRush study that covered more than 50,000 websites in the United States of America.
1 out of every 3 links doesn’t appear on mobile search results.
That’s extremely interesting, considering the amount of money companies invest in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) nowadays.
8% of all domain names have completely disappeared from mobile search results in 2021.
This is pretty shocking considering that Google doesn’t offer explanations for the websites it delists from its rankings.
Mobile Vs. Desktop Video Statistics
We’re not in the early 2000s anymore, and content creators are focusing more than ever on video materials.
Mobile vs desktop video statistics reveals how this type of content is being viewed by the online audience.
2.33 billion Internet users are currently watching videos from mobile devices.
That’s more than a quarter of the world’s total population, based on 2022 estimates.
“Only” 1.46 billion people were mobile video watchers back in 2016.
So the growth is quite impressive if we look at the numbers.
Over 70% of the entire YouTube traffic comes from smartphones and tablets.
And mobile YouTube videos are also more profitable as most users tend to watch more ads on their smartphones as opposed to watching ads from their desktop or laptop.
218% is the increase in numbers when it comes to the top 50 YouTube channels that have added both desktop and mobile traffic.
It makes sense to focus on all types of devices if you want to attract more traffic to your YouTube channel.
Mobile ad viewership for videos is 83% higher as opposed to desktop watched videos.
Basically, more than 8 out of every 10 mobile video watchers will also view the displayed ads.
53% of all desktop video viewers will watch the ad they are shown.
This leaves close to half of all viewers hitting the skip ads button.
We live in the digital age, and what’s the most popular thing on the Internet? Social media is the answer. Let’s have a look at mobile vs desktop social media statistics.
8 out of 10 people access social media from smartphones and tablets.
This leaves only the remaining 20% of social media traffic for desktop users.
Approximately 1 out of every 5 minutes online is spent on social networks and apps.
This means that 80% of the total web traffic is mobile, and most people are checking out their social media accounts.
98.3% of all Facebook users check their profiles from a smartphone.
Sure, they still use desktop devices to sign in on Facebook, but most of the time they check their feed from their smartphones.
86% of all Twitter users are mobile.
That’s one of the highest percentages of mobile users for any social network that’s also available on a desktop.
80% of all Pinterest users come from mobile devices.
This means that 8 out of every 10 people that go on Pinterest choose to do so from their smartphones.
In 2021, only 57% of LinkedIn’s total web traffic came from mobile devices.
This number is quite low if you consider other social networks, but in this case, we’re dealing with a more formal and business-focused platform.
Mobile Vs. Desktop Gaming Statistics
One of the most popular online (and offline) activities of the moment is gaming. And the mobile vs desktop gaming statistics we’ll look into right now will give you a better overview of this sector.
2.2 billion gamers worldwide are now playing from mobile devices.
That’s more than a quarter of the world’s total population.
1.5 billion gamers play from their desktop PCs.
This makes mobile gaming more popular simply by looking at the number of gamers worldwide.
$37.4 billion was the total global revenue generated from PC gaming.
These numbers are extremely outstanding considering where this sector was just 10 years ago.
$86.3 billion is the total global revenue generated by mobile gaming.
Chances are that the gap between the two sectors will continue to grow.
$51.2 billion is the total revenue generated by console gaming worldwide.
And this is one of the sectors that continues to grow along with new technological developments.
$196 billion is the projected gaming market value by the end of 2022.
Gaming is one of the world’s most popular activities today, and the numbers are here to back this statement up.
$95 billion is the total estimated value for the global gaming market at the end of 2022.
The rise in this sector is absolutely astronomical.
$11.6 billion was the total amount of global sales in gaming after the first month of 2021.
It’s pretty hard to imagine what other entertainment services generate such amounts of money in such a short time.
Xbox Companion app had 5.71 million downloads worldwide in 2021.
As gaming evolves, more and more apps and tools will be needed for a complete gaming experience.
Steam had 4.27 million downloads worldwide in 2021.
Which only adds up to the number of companion app downloads for last year.
2.3 billion was the total game downloads number on the Apple Store in Q1 of 2021.
This is extremely impressive until you see how many downloads were recorded on Google Play.
11.8 billion game downloads were recorded on Google Play in Q1 of 2021.
That’s almost 5 times more than the numbers reported by the Apple Store.
28.1 million active users played Subway Surfers in April 2021.
This makes it the most popular mobile game in the world today.
21.32 million active users played Candy Crush Saga during the same time period.
Which makes this the second most popular game around the world today.
With 17 million active monthly users, Clash of Clans is the world’s 3rd most popular mobile game.
It’s extremely surprising to see how many millions are playing mobile games on a regular basis.
$18.21 million was the total revenue generated by gamers in 2020.
We’re talking about gamers worldwide and the combined revenues without counting the tournament money they can win.
The average male gamer is 32 years old.
As opposed to the average female gamer, who currently sits at 36 years of age.
55% of all mobile gamers in the United States are women.
This leaves the other 45% of the mobile gaming sector to belong to the male demographic.
58% of Candy Crush Saga players are female.
So only 42% of the game’s players are men.
6 out of every 10 female mobile gamers play every single day.
The percentages have grown significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 50% of mobile gamers play on their phones while they’re sitting in the bathroom.
So sitting on the toilet is a lot more enjoyable since mobile gaming became a thing.
Casual mobile gaming fans download 10 times more games than hardcore gamers.
Gaming professionals play 2 or 3 games, and they stick with them, as opposed to casual gamers who want to pick and choose from whatever pops up next.
3 hours and 30 minutes is the approximate duration spent by Internet users on their mobile devices.
Out of that entire time, close to 11% is spent gaming.
90% of the total smartphone usage is spent on apps and games.
That leaves just 10% for other types of activities conducted on a smartphone.
Over 50% of all mobile gamers are 34 or older.
So the demographic is also aging, although the young wave of players will quickly take over.
Mobile Vs. Desktop Industry Stats
Mobile vs desktop industry stats reveals just how much the first has grown in competition with the latter.
58% of all purchases that involve one or more devices are finalized on mobile.
Roughly 6 out of every 10 purchases are usually finalized by users from their smartphones.
47.49% of all the Internet traffic comes from mobile devices as of 2021.
At the same time, 48.88% of the traffic comes from desktop devices.
Only 3% of the world’s global Internet traffic comes from tablets.
It seems like tablets haven’t quite caught on as much as smartphones have during the past decade.
50% of the total B2B (Business 2 Business) inquiries in 2020 were conducted from mobile devices.
The latest mobile vs desktop statistics shows that mobile is slightly edging desktop traffic, and the gap will continue to grow.
In 2021, Americans aged 18 or older spend approximately 4 hours per day on their smartphones.
Since a day has only 24 hours, you could say that Americans spend quite a lot of time on their smartphones.
Cable Internet is 29.2 Mbps faster than your average mobile Internet speed.
That’s where desktop PCs have an edge as opposed to smartphones and other mobile devices.
54.2 Mbps is the average Internet speed for desktop connections.
25.1 Mbps is the average mobile Internet speed for smartphones, which is pretty low compared to desktop Internet speed.
However, with time, mobile Internet speeds will continue to rise, especially due to 5G technology which will only add to the exponential growth of mobile usage, as opposed to desktop Internet usage.
Mobile Vs. Desktop by Country
Mobile vs desktop statistics differ from country to country, and that’s why it’s worth paying attention to the demographics of each sector.
54.86% of the global Internet traffic is mobile.
While 42.65% of the entire recorded traffic around the globe comes from desktops, and just 2.49% comes from tablets.
In Europe, 50.95% of the entire Internet traffic is desktop.
As opposed to 46.26% mobile and 2.79% of the total traffic being recorded on tablets.
In North America, 48.35% of the traffic is recorded on desktops.
While a very close second is the traffic from mobile devices with 48.25%, with tablets coming in third place with 3.4% of the total traffic.
In South America, 50.3% of the recorded Internet traffic is mobile.
Yet again, mobile users rank first in South America, with desktop users accounting for 48.77% of the total web traffic and tablets only adding up to 0.94% of the total market share.
In Asia, 63.87% of the total Internet users are on mobile devices as of 2021.
While desktop users account for 34.22% of the total traffic, and tablet users are around 1.91% of the market share.
In Africa, roughly 64.33% of all Internet users come from mobile devices.
And 33.83% use desktops to browse the Internet, with just 1.84% of the total market share going to tablet users.
In Oceania, 53.18% of all Internet users have desktop devices.
While 41.85% browse the web on mobile devices, and 4.97% use tablets.
In the United States of America, mobile Internet traffic is at 48.77% at the moment.
Desktop traffic is a close second with 47.9% of the total internet traffic, and tablet users account for 3.33% of the total web traffic.
In the United Kingdom, roughly 47.44% of all Internet users are on desktop devices.
As opposed to 47.2% on mobile and 5.36% on tablets.
In Canada, 56.22% of all internet users are on desktop devices.
While 38.81% of all Internet users are mobile, and 4.96% of them use tablets.
In India, a staggering 73.76% of Internet users are mobile.
Leaving only 25.8% of the user database for desktop browsing and just 0.44% on tablets.
In France, 48.91% of all Internet users are mobile as of 2021.
47.91% of users come from desktop devices, and only 3.19% use tablets for Internet browsing.
In Germany, approximately 53.52% of the Internet population uses desktop devices.
And close to 43.81% of the total Internet users in 2021 used mobile devices, leaving a market share of 2.67% to tablet users.
53.3% of the total time spent on websites in the United States is recorded on desktop devices.
This still means that desktop devices rank first when it comes to Internet browsing.
46.4% of the total web traffic worldwide comes from desktop devices.
However, when we look at the global numbers, it’s mobile devices that rank as the first choice for Internet users.
46% of all smartphone Internet users in the United Kingdom have started spending more time online during the pandemic.
This means that close to half of the total digital population in the UK is spending more time online on their mobile devices.
FAQ’s
Do people use mobile more than desktop?
Yes. That’s the short answer. More and more people are using mobile devices, and the trends show that the discrepancy between mobile vs desktop usage will continue to grow.
- 68.1% of the entire global website traffic recorded worldwide came from mobile devices in 2020.
And these numbers mark a growth from 63.3% recorded the previous year, in 2019. Desktop traffic only accounts for 28.9% of all website visits, and 3.1% of visitors browse the Internet from their tablets.
What percentage of Internet usage is mobile?
Since 2017, when mobile Internet usage finally surpassed desktop traffic, the numbers kept growing in favor of smartphones and tablets.
- 54.4% of the global Internet usage comes from mobile devices (tablets not included).
Each year since 2017, the mobile industry has managed to remain ahead of the desktop sector, proving once again that we are rapidly shifting towards a mobile-first world.
Conclusion
To sum everything up, judging by all the latest mobile vs desktop statistics for 2023 and the years to come, the world will rapidly be switching to smartphones and tablets, given the fact that they’re easier and more practical to use.
If you don’t need high-end PCs or laptops to get your job done, most likely, you’ll be buying the latest smartphone model out there, which will be more than sufficient for handling all your day-to-day needs and tasks.
There’s basically nothing you can’t do with a PC that you can’t already do with a smartphone today. That’s how much technology has evolved during the past ten years, and chances are that this growth will continue the same trends in the future.
Mobile is, without a doubt, the way of the future, and younger generations are actually more proficient in using smartphones than they are in using standard PCs or laptops. They’re easier to carry, and they come with prices suited for every budget. That’s why the mobile world will continue to dominate the markets in the future.
