Half of All U.S. Mobile Subs Aged 55-Plus Own Smartphones

Nielsen is reporting that 51% of all U.S. mobile subscribers over the age of 55 in the U.S. owned smartphones in the first quarter of 2014, up 10% in the first quarter of 2013.

The development is notable because rapid growth in smartphone usage among older Americans means that a majority of Americans in all age groups who subscribe to a mobile service now own smart phones.

Overall, seven in ten Americans owned smart phones and about 85% of the purchases for new mobile phones are now smartphones.

Nielsen also says that the majority of smartphones use Android operating system (52%) and that the largest number of those came from Samsung, which has a 29% share.

Apple currently has a 42% share of smartphones.

Windows Phone handsets now make up 3%.