Survey: since 2019, US smartphone ownership increased from 81% to 85% and broadband subscriptions rose from 73% to 77%; 30% of users report connectivity issues
Smartphone ownership and home broadband adoption are up slightly since 2019. And 30% of Americans say they at least sometimes …
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2018 Pew data showed adoption stalling: internet use, smartphones, and social media were nearly unchanged since 2016, capping a decade in which smartphone ownership had climbed from 35% in 2011 to 68% by 2015 (the original growth run). This new survey breaks that plateau — smartphones up four points to 85% and home broadband to 77% since 2019, likely the pandemic-era completion curve.
The more telling number sits alongside the gains: 30% of Americans say they at least sometimes have connectivity problems. Back in 2015, Pew was already tracking how broadband had actually slipped from its 2013 peak while smartphone-only households grew (that earlier broadband dip) — this survey suggests the market's problem is shifting from who is connected to how well.
First-order effects
- For US carriers and ISPs, the remaining growth pool is now late adopters and smartphone-first households — acquisition economics get harder precisely as the installed base peaks.
- For the 30% of Americans reporting intermittent connectivity, the issue is no longer access but service quality, putting ISPs' reliability — not their coverage maps — under direct consumer scrutiny.
Second-order effects
- Competition between fixed broadband and mobile carriers sharpens around reliability: with 85% owning smartphones, providers that can guarantee consistent performance can absorb users dissatisfied with their current pipe.
- Households weighing whether broadband is worth paying for when their phone suffices give carriers pricing leverage in both directions — bundling quality tiers rather than competing purely on speed headlines.
Third-order effects
- If adoption keeps inching toward saturation, the digital-divide debate in the US migrates from closing the access gap to fixing the quality and affordability gap — a regulatory target that lands on incumbent ISPs rather than on buildout subsidies alone.
- A near-universally connected population makes connectivity a utility-grade expectation, raising the stakes for any provider whose service fails the 30% who already report problems.
The trend: After the 2016–2018 plateau, US connectivity is completing its adoption curve while the competitive and policy frontier shifts from getting Americans online to keeping them reliably online.