Tablets are catching up: Already 2.6 million users

Internet use via smartphone is now the dominant form of use and has overtaken use via desktop or laptop. While the smartphone was already very established in 2013, the tablet has now also made a big leap in the same direction in recent months. Within just two years, the number of tablet users in Switzerland has risen from around 1.9 million to 2.6 million. This corresponds to a relative increase of 38 percent. Currently, 40 percent of Swiss people use a tablet to surf the Internet.

Silver surfers record strongest growth in tablet use

From the outset, it was clear that the tablet is experiencing its greatest popularity among the over-30s. However, according to figures from the industry organization Net-Metrix, the so-called Silver Surfers (users over the age of 50) are responsible for the strongest growth in tablet use. Since 2013, the number of Silver Surfers who are enthusiastic about tablets has increased by 57 percent (from 463 thousand to 726 thousand).

Tablet as third or fourth device

Tablets are mainly used by people who already own a larger number of devices: 82 percent of tablet users go online with three or more devices. Since such electronic devices also have their price, it is not surprising that tablet users are mainly at home in households with a high income: In the income bracket of CHF 8,000 and above, 47 percent of households use a tablet. In contrast, only 35 percent of households with incomes of less than 8,000 Swiss francs use a tablet.

Comparison studies 2000 and 2015

Over the past 15 years, the Internet has taken on an increasingly central role in the lives of many Swiss people. On the occasion of the publication of the Net-Metrix-Base 2015-1 study, Net-Metrix looks back and presents in the tables below how the use of the World Wide Web has changed over the past 15 years:

Internet usage in Switzerland

While 3.5 million (=62.3 %) Swiss people were still offline in 2000, today only 800'000 (=12.6 percent) are. The proportion of online users has increased by a factor of 2.7 over the last 15 years.

Internet usage by country

In 2000, only around a quarter or 66'000 of the Italian-speaking Swiss were online - today the figure is almost 81 percent. For some years now, German-speaking Switzerland has had the highest Internet penetration; 15 years ago, Suisse Romande was just in first place in this respect.

Internet usage by gender

The gender gap in Internet use has narrowed considerably: while in 2000 there were 18 percentage points between the sexes, today there are only 7. The proportion of female Internet users has more than tripled, from 800 thousand to the current figure of 2.8 million.

Internet usage by age group

Even 15 years ago, the young age group of 14-29 was clearly overrepresented in the online community: 6 out of 10 surfed the net regularly. Silver surfers have experienced the greatest growth: Today, over six times more from this age group belong to the online community: 300 thousand in 2000 (=15.4 percent), 2 million in 2015 (=72.6 percent).
 

Internet usage by education

Even 15 years ago, the highest Internet penetration was found in the higher education class, with almost 60 percent. Only just a quarter, or 332 thousand people with compulsory education, were active on the web - today the figure is over 70 percent.
 

Frequency of use by online users

Nowadays, the Internet is not only being used by more and more people, but also more regularly. Whereas in 2000 the majority surfed the web once or several times a week, today 85 percent are heavy users who are on the web every day or almost every day.