Handsets: Lifetimes, Purchase Channels and Vendors: Consumer Survey

"The handset market is in a state of equilibrium: consumers have firmly established habits when upgrading their device, and these patterns will be hard to change."

This report uses the results of our consumer survey to provide an analysis of handsets in 19 countries. It provides data on handset-replacement cycles, planned upgrades, purchasing channels and handset vendors' market shares.

Questions answered in this report

• What is the lifecycle of a handset and how is this changing over time?
• How many customers buy a mobile handset in a bundle with a mobile plan?
• Where do consumers purchase their handsets (retail stores/shops versus online)?
• What share of customers have a 5G handset, and when do other customers plan to upgrade to 5G?
• What is the share of each brand of handset, by country?

Survey data coverage

The survey was conducted in association with Dynata between July and August 2025. The survey groups were chosen to be representative of the internet-using population in the above-mentioned regions. We set quotas on age, gender and geographical spread to that effect.

There were at least 1000 respondents per country, except in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where there were at least 750 respondents.

Geographical coverage

• North America (NA): Canada and the USA
• Asia-Pacific: Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines
• Europe: Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the UK
• Middle East and Africa: Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the UAE