4.3 Billion People Now Own Smartphones

Comments

• garretble@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  “Why didn’t we sell more phones this year? We are supposed to have infinite growth!”

  “Sir, basically every human has a phone and doesn’t need a new one every year.”

  “…no, that can’t be it.”

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  • Drbreen@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Shareholders: “Then make more people you incompetent fucks!”

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  • egeres@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Hopefully this might collaterally improve wearable tech :[

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  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I’m planning to get a second one just for work (and having work pay for it) so maybe that’s the angle they should pursue. Discounts for corporate purchases?

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• Stamets@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  It’s me. It’s my fault. I’m the people.

  I’m not surprised though. The utility of a smartphone is absolutely unparalleled but also paramount lately. Lately it seems to be that in most of the world an internet connection is required to get a job. You’d need it to apply for work but you’d also need it to access email to see job offers and other responses. You’d also need a phone to often get phone calls about work. For those two functions alone a smartphone is a fantastic investment. When you add in every other service and utility you can get out of it…

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  • the_q@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Yeah… It’s a tool of capitalism. Nothing you said is a positive reason for the increased ownership of a device that delivers sorrow and does little to enrich a person’s life.

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    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Depends on how you use it. You have access to the knowledge of the world at your fingertips, but if you only use it to shop, that’s on you.

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    • balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yeah… It’s a tool of capitalism. Nothing you said is a positive reason for the increased ownership of a device that delivers sorrow and does little to enrich a person’s life.

      It is simply a tool. A large percentage of people have benefits from owning a pocket computer with access to the internet, and this is immediately obvious to everyone.

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  • merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    in most of the world

    Citation needed.

    Most of the world includes Africa, India, China, South America. Places like Western Europe, Australia and the US only contribute a small amount to that world population. I doubt an Internet connection is needed to get a job in Nigeria, Peru or Sri Lanka.

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  • callouscomic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Do you think applying to work for Hamas is as dumb as Walmart? Answer obnoxious questions about your behavior to ensure you act like the programmed soldier they want you to be so you can perfectly carry out their mission with brutal precision and zero regard for anyone else except just for the sole goals of their top leadership? I’m talking about Walmart of course.

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• nostradiel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  And the other 3.7 billion people is glad to have some food for the day…

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  • ram@bookwormstory.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Smartphones are at a level of ubiquety in many societies where depending on where you live, even the poorest of individuals will have one. It’s not uncommon at all to see homeless people around starbucks getting free wifi to connect online with whatever smartphone they have. It’s really dependent on where you live whether a smartphone is at all correlated with wealth.

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    • balder1991@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      All societies changed because of computers and smartphones. Lots of people forget that especially for poor people smartphones brought so much benefits that were not accessible before, such as online banking (not needing to go to a bank branch), being in touch with family even when moving away for work, much more access to information (despite the low barrier of disinformation nowadays), online courses, healthcare tips etc.

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    • nostradiel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I’m not talking about people who have Starbucks around. 🤣

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    • callouscomic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      But but but the Boomers told me things about having a smartphone and drinking coffee that means you MUST not be poor.

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• Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’ve been day dreaming about getting rid of mine. Its not going to happen (any time soon) but its a nice dream world to live in.

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  • Secret300@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I just want a small laptop. Not a phone. I hate the why apps and crap work and how files are stored. It’s so annoying to use

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    • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Exactly. I keep looking at small Linux devices, waiting for the day when I can replace my phone with one of those.

      Sadly, more and more, an android phone is made quasi mandatory for a number of things (like banking auth), and I’m not sure how to work around that yet.

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    • queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Netbooks could have been great if they were started in 2015 and not 2005. Modern day ARM and perhaps future RISC-V could make them miles ahead.

      I currently use a Chromebook for “on the go but needing a bigger screen and keyboard”, as my thinkpad is too big for that task. I do however consider getting something like an X230 frequently, so I’m not stuck to Chrome OS because mine is not supported by any of the community “Chromebook to usable laptop with Linux” methods.

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  • Gorroth@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I literally just had my finger over the order button for one of these Nokia 3310 Remakes, but I didn’t order

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  • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Maybe it’s only because I am a uni student and not full-on working, but I did. IMO it’s improved my overall life, and what little is mobile-only (hi Steam’s trade confirmations) can be used in an emulator/VM.

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    • Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      There are multiple apps I have to have for work. MS Teams is the one I doubt I could replicate. Nor do I really want send a reply to an urgent question using T9 input.

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• merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’d like to see an age breakdown.

  2.6 billion people are under 20, nearly a billion are over 60. I’d expect those age groups are less likely to own smartphones.

  So, the rate for people between 20 and 60 might be closer to 90%.

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• callouscomic@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I would not be surprised if some of the data used and conclusions are incorrect. The article said some percentage that are using 4G. I’ll bet all of this is based on active phones. Would not be surprised if they are stupidly presuming 1 phone = 1 person. But the article didn’t clarify that, or much of anything else. Tons of people own/use multiple phones.

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