4.3 Billion People Now Own Smartphones::Find out how smartphone ownership has reached 4.3 billion people worldwide. Dive into the GSMA’s Mobile Internet Connectivity 2023 Report.

  • garretble@lemmy.world
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    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.”

  • Stamets@startrek.website
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    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…

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      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.

    • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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      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.

    • the_q@lemmy.world
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      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.

      • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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        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 and Facebook, that’s on you.

        • the_q@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No it isn’t. These devices are specifically made to promote behaviors. You’re talking like you’re immune to it, but I assure you that isn’t the case.

          • nave@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            These devices are specifically made to promote behaviors

            Like what? I don’t think Apple, Google or Samsung care about whether you download Facebook. It’s not like they’re making money off it.

            • the_q@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Oh they aren’t? Showing people having a good time, creating feelings of missing out, dopamine hits from cute videos and liking disliking content? Hmm why does Samsung have Facebook preinstalled? For fun? Google doesn’t run ads through nearly everything done online?

              I hope you’re young.

              • nave@lemmy.zip
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                1 year ago

                Ok I did forget Samsung preinstalls Facebook but Google running ads has nothing to do with Facebook. All the major social media platforms have their own ads. It’s in Googles best interests for people to not use Facebook because it would devalue Facebook ads. Also the original comment was about whether phones are made specifically to “promote behaviors”. You seem to be conflating social media companies and phone manufacturers.

                • the_q@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Oh right. Smartphones are only used for calling and texting. My bad. You guys are right. Phones are awesome.

      • Balder@lemmy.world
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        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.

        The companies maintaining the operating systems used in smartphones care more about the mental health of people than social media companies, reason why both Google and Apple added functionality to limit time spent on certain apps, which for me is a huge thing.

    • ram
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      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.

      • Balder@lemmy.world
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        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.

      • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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        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.

    • erwan@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      How many of them are well fed kids who don’t need a smartphone yet?

    • Secret300@sh.itjust.works
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      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

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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        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.

          • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 year ago

            It’s not. It just has really heavly modified Linux kernel and the similarities end there. Termux uses a hack that was already patched, so if Termux ever update to newer API level it won’t work.

            I hate how files, the UI and overall services managment work on Android. I cannot mount a drive, access app’s files and their configs, I cannot change the UI environment or system theme (besides basic setting of app launcher and dark/light), I cannot update beyond manufacturer support and swap OSes like on PC and the list goes on…

            • btaf45@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Termux uses a hack that was already patched, so if Termux ever update to newer API level it won’t work.

              I got a brand new phone and installed Termux a few weeks ago.

              I cannot mount a drive, access app’s files and their configs,

              That is a problem on normal Android. But with Termux and certain other programs that have the right permissions, like the “File” app that came with my Samsung, you can access the entire OS and network drives.

              I cannot update beyond manufacturer support and swap OSes like on PC and the list goes on…

              If you root your phone you can do anything.

              • smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de
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                1 year ago

                I got a brand new phone and installed Termux a few weeks ago. Because of backwards compatibility of Android, you can install older apps. But Termux was not updated in ~2 years and no app targeting modern version can use permissions that Termux needs.

                That is a problem on normal Android. But with Termux and certain other programs that have the right permissions, like the “File” app that came with my Samsung, you can access the entire OS and network drives. Also not what I ment, I see you haven’t used Linux for longer, but it has a concept of mounting. You mount some virtual or real drive to a diretory and then this directory behave like a “portal”. By this way you can for example mount online storage drive as it was a physical and for example install programs on it.

                If you root your phone you can do anything. Not true. This is in theory, in practice you are very limited by Android messed up nature and lack of documentation from manufacturer side. Look up PostmarketOS, a real Linux distribution that community maintain. You can see how short is the list of supported phones, it needs to be ported for every device separately and takes huge amount of work. Look up PostmarketOS, it is a real mainline (means without much modifications) Linux-based OS. You can plug a monitor in and there would be no difference between PC and this, can install desktop apps.

                • btaf45@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  I see you haven’t used Linux for longer, but it has a concept of mounting.

                  Dude I’ve used Unix for 40 years since before Linux existed. I had an Android tablet, in which I installed termux on, and mounted my shared network drives using Samba on termux. I literally used the Linux “mount” command to mount it to my termux linux filesystem.

                  You can see how short is the list of supported phones, it needs to be ported for every device separately and takes huge amount of work

                  And it was a huge amount of work to port Unix to various hardware back in the day.

      • Queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        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.

    • Gorroth@lemmy.world
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      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

    • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl
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      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.

      • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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        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.

  • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    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.

  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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    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%.