Customers experiencing smartphones at a Samsung Electronics store in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The portion of smartphone users among South Koreans aged 70 and over has risen by more than 10 times over the past five years, a report showed Monday.
The smartphone penetration rate for the age group came to 37.8 percent in 2018, compared with 3.6 percent five years earlier, according to the report from the Korea Information Society Development Institute.
The smartphone ownership ratio for people in their 60s also soared to 80.3 percent from 19 percent over the cited period, with the figure for those in their 50s jumping to 95.5 percent from 51.3 percent.
The number for those in their 40s increased to 98.4 percent from 81.3 percent, and that for 20-somethings grew to 98.7 percent from 94.2 percent.
South Korea’s overall smartphone penetration rate came to 89.4 percent last year, compared with 68.8 percent in 2013.
The report also showed South Koreans’ daily smartphone usage time, excluding voice calls, averaged 1 hour and 36 minutes last year, up four minutes from five years earlier, while their daily TV-viewing time shrank to 2 hours and 47 minutes from 3 hours and 14 minutes.
South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest smartphone and chip maker.
(Yonhap)
