SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's smartphone take-up ratio reached 73 percent, marking a three-fold jump since 2011. On July 22, Google Korea released results of its survey conducted by a market research firm Ipsos with 1,000 Korean adults aged between 18 and 64, under the theme of the "Understanding Korean Mobile Consumers."
The survey showed that Korea's smartphone penetration rate stood at 73 percent in the first quarter of this year, about a three-fold increase compared to 27 percent in 2011. This is the highest growth rate among 43 countries that Google surveyed.
Even in terms of the frequency of use, Korea recorded the highest level among Asia-Pacific countries. As much as 82 percent of smartphone users said they use it every day.
A half of the respondents said that their use of the Internet through smartphones increased over the past six months, higher than the rates of the United States, the UK and Japan.
As much as 63 percent of the respondents said they made it a rule to carry smartphones whenever they leave home while 72 percent said that they enjoy Internet search through smartphones every day.