2021 Installed Base: 4.3 Billion Smartphones

In a recent Reuter’s interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook indicated that the installed base of active iPhones had reached 1 billion devices:

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview that the company now has an active installed base of 1.65 billion devices, compared with 1.5 billion devices a year ago. Cook also said Apple now has an installed base of more than 1 billion iPhones, an increase over the 900 million the company most recently disclosed in 2019.

This prompted curious minds to wonder, “How many active devices are out there?” One answer from Gartner Group research indicates that the installed base of Smartphones grows from 4.3 billion in 2021 to over 4.4 billion in 2022.

Combining the installed base of smartphones, laptops, and tablets, the Gartner research indicates a growth from 5.7 billion in 2021 to nearly 6 billion in 2022.

With time, each of the many billions of power adapters associated with the billions of active mobile devices can and will be displaced with zero standby energy consumption power adapters.