Modern, fast-paced lifestyle has created the perfect environment for the growth of the mobile devices market. Mobile devices are easily accessible and always on-hand, but a greater part of their value lies in their connectivity to the internet. Considering that we spend most of our time at home or at work, it would be logical to conclude that most of the traffic comes through fixed internet connections. But is that what statistics show? Let’s find out Let’s find out what percentage of internet traffic is mobile in 2021.
How much of the web traffic is mobile?
(Statista)
Statista’s report for the second quarter of 2020 indicates that over half of web traffic in the world is done on mobile devices. Excluding tablets, mobile devices have generated 51.53% of traffic. Since the beginning of 2017, mobile search has continuously managed to take over half of all internet traffic.
India is one of the markets that showcases a mobile-first mindset. Due to numerous financial restraints and infrastructural issues, the mobile internet was more accessible and convenient for the majority of the people. Such is the case in most African markets like Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, where mobile internet traffic is well above 50%. For comparison, mobile-only traffic counts for only around 40% in the US.
People mostly use their mobile devices to watch movies or videos, check their email, and access social media apps. A testament to this is the fact that Netflix, Tencent Video, and Amazon Prime Video are the most downloaded apps in the App Store, in the entertainment category.
How much traffic is on the Internet?
(Cisco)
According to Cisco’s web traffic data, global internet traffic is expected to reach 235.7 Exabytes per month by 2021—a new record, and annual growth of 24% from 2016 when it was at 73.1 Exabytes monthly.
This implies daily traffic of 7.7 Exabytes in 2021, up from 2.4 Exabytes per day in 2016.
To put this in perspective, Cisco calculated that, in 2021, the gigabyte equivalent of all movies ever made will cross the Internet every 1 minute.
What percentage of Google searches are done on mobile devices?
(Statista)
As of the final quarter of 2019, Google has the highest organic search traffic generated on mobile devices, with 61%—more than any other search engine. Yahoo is trailing it in second place, with 49% mobile searches.
This marks significant growth since 2013, when the mobile search was at 34% on Google. According to available statistics, the mobile share of organic Google traffic reached its peak in Q3 of 2019 when it was 64% of all browsing.
What percentage of Internet traffic is mobile in the UK?
(Stat Counter)
If we take a look at the internet traffic report, we can see that, as of July 2020, 44.45% of internet users in the UK conducted their searches on mobile devices. While the percentage is relatively close to the global average, even more consumers (47.67%) browse by desktop. At 7.88%, tablets have the lowest search volume.
What percentage of network traffic will come from mobile devices by 2021?
(Cisco)
Research shows that, of all IP traffic (fixed and mobile) in 2021, mobile traffic is expected to account for 20%, while Wi-Fi and wired will be at 50% and 30%, respectively. However, this doesn’t mean that mobile devices make up for only 20% of all traffic; in fact, as much as 63% of the wireless traffic will be offload traffic from mobile devices. This means that the traffic coming from mobile devices will be around 51.5%.
How many people use mobile vs desktop?
(Stat Counter)
If we pit global mobile vs desktop internet usage statistics, we can see that mobile browsing has managed to eke out a steady (if relatively small) lead over desktop browsing. Desktop use accounts for less than half (46.39%) of market share, while mobile devices have just beat the 50% mark at 50.88%.
If we add tablet use (2.74%) to mobile phones, the combined mobile-device lead becomes more respectable at 53.62%.
How many people use the Internet?
(Statista)
According to the July 2020 report, almost 4.57 billion people use the internet actively. Countries that rank ahead of everyone else in the number of internet users are China (854 million internet users out of an estimated 1.38 billion population), India (560 million), and the US (313 million).
Even though the Asian market is the leader in internet usage, statistics show that English is still the preferred language for over 26% of users.
What percentage of video views on YouTube come from mobile devices?
(YouTube)
YouTube’s mobile traffic report indicates that over 70% of the platform’s video views come from mobile devices. The popular video platform is one of the most lucrative places to advertise businesses and products. More than two billion people watch over 30 billion hours of video on YouTube per month. It’s actively used in 73 countries and 61 languages—which means the options for worldwide reach are boundless.
What percentage of people use the internet?
(Pew Research)
As previously mentioned, almost 4.57 billion people use the internet, making it 59% of the population. Out of that number, 4.17 billion are unique mobile internet users, and almost 4 billion are social media users.
It’s fascinating that 90% of adults in the US used the internet in 2019, compared to 52% of users in 2000. If we analyze the age groups, we see that 100% of adults aged 18–29 browse the internet, a 30% growth from 2000. As expected, older people over the age of 65 use the internet the least, but the percentage of 73% is still a massive growth from 14% at the beginning of the millennium.
So—What Percentage of Internet Traffic Is Mobile?
Web traffic statistics have shown a steady shift from desktop to mobile over the course of the past few years. Any business that wishes to build a successful online presence has no choice but to consider investing in high-quality mobile optimization, as more than half of all internet browsing is done through mobile devices. This trend seems to be growing, especially with the popularization of AI assistants and voice search, along with already essential smartphones—excluding tablets, mobile devices have generated 51.53% of internet traffic.
