Three out of four Swiss are smart on the road
78 percent of Swiss residents between the ages of 15 and 74—equivalent to about 4.9 million people—own a smartphone. While smartphone ownership continues to rise, the rate of growth is slowing, as shown by a representative survey conducted by Comparis.ch.
The market is still dominated by Apple's iPhone. Tablets are also becoming increasingly popular. 48% of Swiss people already own one of these gadgets.
Proportion of smartphone and tablet owners in Switzerland
After years of double-digit growth, smartphone penetration in Switzerland is gradually leveling off: over the past two years, the proportion of smartphone owners in the population has only risen by 9% - from 69% to currently 78%, according to a representative survey conducted by the Link market research institute on behalf of Comparis.ch (see box). "The market potential still allows for growth of around 22%. However, we assume that only low growth rates are to be expected due to the already high penetration", says Christoph Glaus, Comparis.ch's Digital & Telecom media spokesperson.
Smartphone wins with "silver surfers"
Among young Swiss aged 15 to 29, 97% of respondents own a smartphone, so there's not much left to pick up. 88% of representatives aged 30 to 49 use smartphones. 64% of 50 to 74-year-olds - the so-called "silver surfers" - are now at the cutting edge of mobile technology, compared to just 43% two years ago. There is still plenty of growth potential here.
Apple - the pedestal is toppling
Although Switzerland remains firmly in the hands of Apple, the distribution of iPhones fell for the first time this year, to 54% (-2%) to be precise. The Android operating system is gaining ground and was able to snatch market volume from its competitors Microsoft and Apple this year with growth of 4%. Microsoft continues to struggle with market share and even lost one percent to its competitors with Android operating systems compared to 2014, meaning it currently has a penetration rate of 3%.
Tablets continue to offer great potential
Today, 48% of all Swiss people own a tablet. Two years ago, the figure was 40% and in 2012 only 14%. This means that 2.2 million Swiss between the ages of 15 and 74 currently have such a gadget. "Tablets are becoming increasingly popular and we expect this figure to rise noticeably over the next year," says Christoph Glaus, Digital & Telecom Media Spokesperson at Comparis.ch.
The tablet business continues to be dominated by iPads, but here too the picture is similar to that of smartphones. The market share of Apple products currently stands at 60% and is therefore 4% below the 2014 result. This 4% is split between competitors with Android operating systems (3% growth) and tablets from Microsoft (1% growth).
Method
In a representative telephone survey, the Link market research institute interviewed 1202 people in January 2016. The respondents were aged between 15 and 74 and came from all language regions. The smartphone study was conducted for the fourth time.
