TUP 2022 released! (TUP’s 40th year)

We are pleased to announce that we have released results from the 40th annual wave of the ongoing TUP/Technology User Profile study. Four continuous decades of research results have helped guide most of the top technology firms with solid information. With its focus on the people who use and enjoy technology products and services, the TUP study continues its mission of helping our clients create the future.

Current subscribers may access the results through their own insights systems, the MetaFacts subscriber portal, or by contacting MetaFacts.

While most of our clients dive directly into the data and tables, we also offer our analysis. At present, we are analyzing the results, beginning by addressing the following questions. Many of these questions have been growing in importance for years, so we have earlier analysis and data available to provide a trend analysis and solid background on the changes in the market.

Pre-pandemic (TUP 2019) through the current time (TUP 2022)

Working from home
- How many online adults work from home now? What are employees’ expectations about working from home in one year? How many adults use home PCs for work? Which technology do people working from home use? What online activities stand out for those working from home? How do those new to working from home differ from seasoned remote employees?
  - For more details, see this TUP Lens: TUP Work Life Balance Lens
  - Or, see these topics: Work from home, Work-related activities, or Employees
  - Also, see these MetaFAQs or TUPDates: Most employees work from home and expect to be in one year, and How employees working from home are balancing their activities
Shifts in how connected devices are being used
- How have users shifted their choice of devices? How prevalent are smartphones as the primary type of device for major types of activities? Where do computers stand now?
  - See this TUP Lens: TUP Activities Lens
  - Or see these topics: Devices, Primacy
  - Also, see this MetaFAQs or TUPdate: Smartphones achieve usage primacy
Device use
- How prevalent are computers as the primary type of device for major types of activities? How prevalent are tablets as the primary type of device for major types of activities? How has the mix of devices shifted by type of activity?
- See these TUP Lenses: TUP Devices Lens, TUP Activities Lens
Trends in communication activities
- What are the major communication activities using any of the user’s connected devices? Which activities (e.g. work video meetings a’la Zoom) have dropped to before-pandemic levels? Which type of device is used for the most communication activities?
- See these TUP Lenses: TUP Communication Lens, TUP Activities Lens
- Or these topics: Communication or Video calls
Technology ecosystems
- How has the market penetration for Apple/non-Apple computers, smartphones, and tablets shifted? What are the purchase intentions for Apple iPhones versus other smartphones? What are the purchase intentions for Apple Watch and non-Apple smart watches?
- See this TUP Lens: TUP Technology Ecosystems Lens
- Or these topics: Operating systems, Apple iOS, Microsoft Windows, Android, or Technology Ecosystems
Technology brands
- How have brand footprints shifted? What is the profile of HP’s PC customers? What is the profile of Dell’s customers? What is the profile of Samsung’s customers? What is the size and profile of Apple’s customers – for their iPhones, Macs, iPads, and other offerings?
- See these TUP Lenses: Devices; PCs; Mobile Phones; Tablets; Technology Ecosystems
- Or these topics: HP, Dell, Samsung, Apple
Shifts within key market segments
- How has tech use changed for key segments? How has tech use changed for employees? How has tech use changed for college students? How has tech use changed for parents? How has tech use changed for seniors? How has tech use changed for Baby Boomers? How has tech use changed for Generation Z?
- See this TUP Lens: User Profile
- Or these topics: Age groups, Employment status, Students, Parents, Sociodemographics
Purchase plans
- Which technology are Americans planning to purchase? Which technology are remote workers planning to purchase? Which technology are new remote workers planning to purchase?
- See this TUP Lens: TUP Work Life Balance Lens
- Or see this topic: Purchase plans

The TUP/Technology User Profile service is organized into TUP Lenses, each offering a view into the comprehensive datasets. More details about each lens can be found here.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

November 3, 2021March 4, 2022

Trends in technology ecosystems

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, November 3, 2021

Smartphones passed PCs among all employment/age groups

The penetration rate of smartphones has passed PCs for all groups of online Americans by employment status and age group
More adults not employed outside the home have had smartphones than PCs throughout 2018 to 2021
Employed adults followed the trend between 2019 and 2020
- In 2020, younger employed adults had a wider gap between smartphone and PC use
Older adults not employed outside the home were the last to have more use of a smartphone than a PC
Tablet use has dropped substantially between 2018 and 2021

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

October 27, 2021

Purchase plans for smartphones and tablets by OS, country, and age

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, October 27, 2021

Apple and Android purchase plans by country

Globally, slightly more adults plan to buy an iPhone as plan to buy an Android smartphone
- 19% of global adults plan to buy an iPhone in the next 12 months, while 16% have similar plans for an Android smartphone
- Apple leads in the US with 20% having iPhone purchase plans compared to 14% for Android smartphones
- In Japan, the gap is narrowly tilted towards Apple among the small share with brand-specific plans

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

September 22, 2021

Key ecosystems penetration [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, September 22, 2021

OS penetration by country

Windows penetration leads Apple and Google in every country surveyed
- Primarily driven by the use of Windows PCs
In Germany, Google/Android penetration is much higher than Apple and highest among the countries surveyed
In the US and UK, Apple’s penetration is near to the penetration of Windows
In Germany, Japan, and China, Microsoft Windows dominates

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

September 1, 2021October 17, 2021

Americans have big plans for tech purchases [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, September 1, 2021

Purchase plans – a key indicator

Online Americans have some of the most substantial purchase plans we have seen for years. Over 7,600 American respondents reported their detailed technology purchase plans, of which almost 5,000 respondents have any plans to buy PCs, smartphones, tablets, printers, or wearables. MetaFacts gathered these results between July 29 and August 19, 2021. Note: the final TUP/Technology User Profile 2021 results are based on 13,918 respondents in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and China.

Purchase plans for PCs are nearly equal to smartphone purchase plans and are up firmly from one year ago
- 47% of online Americans plan to purchase a smartphone in the coming 12 months, and the rate is similar (45% for PC purchase plans
- By comparison, in TUP 2020, 41% of Americans planned to purchase a smartphone, and 36% planned to buy a PC
Desktop plans are effectively equal for tower desktops as well as all-in-one designs, although both are lagging behind gaming desktops
Laptop purchase plans slightly lead desktop plans, as buyers prefer mobile PCs (even if it means only moving the PC around their house)
- Wi-Fi + Cellular laptops are now on par with plans for non-Cellular laptops
Plans for tablets are much stronger than historical levels as users continue to experiment with working from home
- Almost one-third (30%) of online Americans currently have tablet purchase plans
- One year ago, only 23% of online Americans planned to buy a tablet in the coming 12 months
- Plans for iPads are almost double the rate for Android tablets
Plans for iPhones are roughly 50% higher than the rate for Android smartphones
Plans for Apple Watches are almost double the rate for smartwatches for Android users

Planners of note

Americans working from home have stronger purchase plans than those not working from home. Even those who only occasionally work from home have stronger than average plans.

Americans planning to purchase a tablet or wearables (such as Apple Watch) have a higher than average share already using some type of Apple product (iPhone, iPad, Mac) as their primary or secondary connected device.

Wearable purchase plans are strongest among Americans already using some type of Wearable – Apple Watch, Android Wear or other smartwatch.

Looking ahead

Purchase intentions are a leading indicator of consumer interest. However, consumers are known to be fickle and current economic conditions are still in flux.

Other resources

Clients interested in drilling down into current results or comparing to prior waves can refer to the rows “810 Plans”. These results are included in the following table sets:

By Age Group, by Age Generations, By Country, By Employment/Age, By Employer Size, by Household Size, by Employer Industry, by Children Present, and by Work from Home Status

Customized tables are analysis are available by inquiry.

About MetaFAQs

MetaFAQs are answers to frequently asked questions about technology users. The research results showcase the TUP/Technology User Profile study, MetaFacts’ survey of a representative sample of online adults profiling the full market’s use of technology products and services. The current wave of TUP is TUP/Technology User Profile 2021, which is TUP’s 39th annual.

Current subscribers may use the comprehensive TUP datasets to obtain even more results or tailor these results to fit their chosen segments, services, or products. As subscribers choose, they may use the TUP inquiry service, online interactive tools, or analysis previously published by MetaFacts.

On request, interested research professionals can receive complimentary updates through our periodic newsletter. These include MetaFAQs – brief answers to frequently asked questions about technology users – or TUPdates – analysis of current and essential technology industry topics. To subscribe, contact MetaFacts.

LENSES: Devices, PCs, Tablets, Mobile Phones, User Profile

TAGS: Purchase plans, Purchasing plans, PCs, Desktops, Laptops, Notebooks, Mobile phones, Smartphones, Tablets, Wearables, Smartwatches, Printers

TUP_doc_2021_0901_amer-American-purchase-plans-2021_0920_1126

TAGS: Purchase plans, Purchasing plans, PCs, Desktops, Laptops, Notebooks, Mobile phones, Smartphones, Tablets, Wearables, Smartwatches, Printers

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

July 8, 2021

It’s a multi-ecosystem world [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, July 8, 2021

Building and maintaining an ecosystem promises untold benefits to companies. However, companies will not enjoy benefits unless customers see value in the collective experience. Encouraging customers to stay within a company’s family of products can reduce the expense of acquiring new customers and increase revenue from ancillary offerings. This TUPdate reports on the most pragmatic measure of acceptance – market penetration status of broad technology ecosystems. In this analysis, MetaFacts measures the market’s adoption of the three prominent operating system families: Microsoft Windows, Google Android/Chrome OS, and Apple iOS/iPadOS/MacOS.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

May 21, 2021June 9, 2021

Geriatric millennials lead in using connected devices [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, May 21, 2021

The term “geriatric millennials” recently spiked in awareness across social media. Although generational subgroups don’t often draw attention from the general public, this one seemed to strike a nerve. Are the oldest group of millennials – those born from 1981 to 1984 – really that different from other age groups in the technology they use? This MetaFAQs reports on the number of connected devices each generational age group uses. The device measured include any PCs, mobile phones, tablets, or game consoles.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

April 28, 2021

Samsung laptop progress [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 28, 2021

Samsung’s laptop PC announcements

This week Samsung announced its most recent slate of laptop PCs. While Samsung may be well known for smartphones, Android tablets, and even refrigerators, its PCs have not achieved such notoriety. Samsung has a tall hill to climb to gain market acceptance with its PCs. Its latest focus is on leveraging its smartphone brand with mobile PCs that have smartphone-like attributes. The announcements went beyond the traditional PC specs to focus on smoother and more highly integrated workflows, and the benefits of a Samsung ecosystem.

Samsung’s current market position is well behind Apple’s. Among online adults in the US and UK, Samsung’s market penetration for any connected devices is in the one-third range, well behind Apple, having reached half of online adults. In Japan, the gap is even wider between Samsung and Apple. In contrast, the tables are turned in Android-dominated Germany.

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April 23, 2021

Samsung and Apple users by age group and country [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 23, 2021

Samsung and Apple each have their most substantial market penetration with their smartphones. Each company is striving to deepen its connection to its core base with PCs/Macs and tablets. There is a distinct difference in market penetration by age group. This MetaFAQs details the device-type penetration of Samsung and Apple’s smartphones, PCs, and tablets by age group in 2020 in the US, UK, Germany, and China.

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April 22, 2021

Samsung and Apple’s device type penetration within core [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, April 22, 2021

Samsung and Apple have intensely competitive offerings with their smartphones, PCs, and tablets. Each company is vying to deepen its connection to its core base so customers of one device type will also use other types. One measure of loyalty is the range of device types that customers actively use. This MetaFAQs details the device-type penetration of Samsung and Apple’s smartphones, PCs, and tablets within each of their respective core bases in 2020 in the US, UK, Germany, and China.

Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.