Carrier data confirms it: Half of US now owns a smartphone

For the first time, more people in the US own a smartphone than a regular talk and text devices, according to a new report from Chetan Sharma Consulting. Smartphone penetration exceeded 50 percent in the second quarter, making the feature phone a shrinking minority among US mobile users. A Nielsen study found in May reached similar conclusions, revealing that 50.4 percent of US subscribers surveyed owned a smartphone, up from a mere 18 percent in 2009. But while Nielsen’s number are based on polling data, Sharma’s come from the operators’ quarterly reports.