More people in Japan accessed the internet from smartphones than from PCs for the first time in 2017, Japan Today reported.
A survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications found 54.2 per cent of respondents used smartphones to access the internet compared with 48.7 per cent using PCs and 18.7 per cent tablets, the newspaper said, noting the question offered people the option of listing several devices.
The survey was sent by mail in November and December to about 40,000 households and 7,000 companies.
By age group, 87.8 per cent of those surveyed in their 20s used smartphones to use the internet compared with 37.2 per cent of those in their 60s.
The number of Google searches on mobile devices surpassed those on computers in Japan and nine other countries including the US in May 2015, the search giant said.
Japan, with some of the fastest mobile networks in the world and a 76 per cent 4G penetration, is late to hit the mobile threshold.
In China 95 per cent of users accessed the internet on a mobile device in 2016, data from China Internet Network Information Centre showed.
StatCounter estimated worldwide internet usage on mobile devices at 51.2 per cent in April 2018 compared with 46.7 per cent for desktops. Those percentages had been fairly steady over the preceding 12 months.
Source: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/smartphones-surpass-pcs-for-japan-internet-access/