The percentage of global web traffic on mobile phones has surged over the past decade. In August 2023, 55.5% of all web traffic came through mobile phones, with the average for 2023 so far coming in at 56.69%. 

If we were to go back to 2012, this figure was at a meager 10.88%. Fast forward five years later to 2017, and the percentage of web traffic on mobile had already increased five-fold to 54.09%.

The quickest growth rate came from the first few years of the past decade and has slowed significantly since then. Comparing the percentage of web traffic on mobile, the average year-over-year growth rate from 2013 to 2018 was 32%, compared to 1% from 2018 to 2023. 

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Mobile vs. desktop internet usage

For some to win, others must lose. The rise in the percentage of web traffic on mobile has had an immense impact on desktop web traffic. 

In 2013, a large majority of all web traffic came through desktops (82.98%). The very first time the percentage of web traffic on mobile exceeded that of desktop came in November 2016, when 50.7% of overall internet traffic came from mobile phones, just a little more than desktop at 49.3%. 

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Mobile browsing stats in the United States

The distribution of mobile vs desktop internet usage in the United States looks very different. While statistics show that slightly more global consumers prefer to browse on their mobile phones than desktops, US consumers appear to favor desktops. 

As of August 2023, 32.23% of the total web visits are currently mobile, compared to 67.77% coming from desktops. Mobile and desktops have been trading positions over the past few years, and desktop’s lead so far in 2023 is the biggest in at least six years. 

Of the mobile internet browsers, Apple’s Safari is proving to be the most popular choice among all mobile internet users in the US. The latest figures show that 52.13% of all US mobile users use Safari to browse the internet, with Google Chrome coming in second with 41.94%. 

These mobile browsing stats should come as no surprise, given that iPhones are popular in the US and Safari is pre-installed on all iPhone devices. As it stands, there are approximately 124.7 million iPhone users in the US.

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