The adoption of smartphones and tablets is resulting in consumers spending less time with dedicated devices... but most people still turn to standalone equipment on occasions. Research from the Consumer Electronics Association in the USA shows that portable game consoles, satellite navigation devices and e-book readers are most likely to be discarded first.
43% of smartphone owners and 46% of tablet owners said they now spent less less time with their laptops but only 1% of phone owners and 2% of tablet owners said they'd stopped using their laptop completely.
According to the study, 78% of people now use smartphones as their primary device for taking pictures, 74% for recording videos, 69% for getting directions, 62% for reading e-books and 59% for listening to music.
Conventional laptop and desktop computers are still the main devices used by tablet and smartphone owners to browse the internet, shop online, watch videos and edit documents.
Rhonda Daniel, senior manager for market research at the CEA, said “Smartphones and tablets have enriched, diversified and transformed the ecosystem of consumer electronics. As a result, mobile device owners are re-proportioning the time they spend using other standalone CE devices. While many single-function devices continue to play a distinct and relevant role in our digital lives, consumers are gravitating toward connected mobile devices able to perform multiple functions.”