This Is How People All Over The World Use Their IPhone

This is how people around the world are putting the planet’s most popular smartphone to use.

Land of the free, home of the selfie

In the U.S., nearly half of smartphone users have iPhones. Spending a whopping 5+ hours a day on their devices, what are the Americans doing on their phones?

Snapping selfies, wasting time on social media, watching videos and TV series, messaging friends and making tiny cartoon avatars of themselves. According to MediaKix, Americans spend nearly an hour and 15 minutes per day on the top five mobile social media platforms alone, with Bitmoji, Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Google Maps, Netflix, Uber and Spotify rounding out the top 10 most downloaded iOS apps. Will the iPhone X’s improved front-facing camera with selfie-perfecting ‘portrait mode’ bring American phone use up to six hours a day? Time will tell.

Fit for Europe’s beauty

While iPhones aren’t quite as dominant in Europe as they are in the States, they account for almost a quarter of the smartphone market in Europe’s big five arenas: the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

The iPhone 8+’s ‘true tone’ screen, which matches the light it produces to the ambient light around you, allows for better on-screen colours – perfect for showcasing the beautiful Scottish locations on ‘Outlander’ or the exquisite beauty of the Italian summer in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Desire’ film trilogy.

China loves WeChat

Nearly one in five urban Chinese own an iPhone, and they’re likely using WeChat. The video, voice and messaging app has an insane 700 million+ user base, and takes up almost a third of all the time spent in mobile apps in China on an average day.

Other top 10 iOS apps include video apps iQIYI, Youku and Tencent, dockless bike rental apps ofo and Mobike, instant messenging app QQ, mobile payment platform Alipay, shopping app Taobao and cutsey selfie-sticker app Faceu.

The land of the rising sun emoji

iPhones command more than half of the smartphone market in Japan, the homeland of the world’s first emoji.

The X’s new ‘Animojis’, which move their faces and talk like you do, are sure to make Apple even more popular in the country. The playful creatures, including a panda, a unicorn, a robot and more, use the incredible TrueDepth camera to analyze over 50 different facial muscle movements to smile, frown and move.

Can’t wait to get your hands on Apple’s two newest releases? Read the 7 Things You Need to Know About Apple’s New iPhones, find out how the iPhone X can up your selfie game or shop the devices now on Carphone Warehouse.

About the author

Claire Lancaster

Tech & Entrepreneurship Editor

English-American, Claire has lived and worked in the U.S., South America, Europe and the UK. As Culture Trip’s tech and entrepreneurship editor she covers the European startup scene and issues ranging from Internet privacy to the intersection of the web with civil society, journalism, public policy and art. Claire holds a master’s in international journalism from City University, London and has contributed to outlets including Monocle, NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC World Service. When not writing or travelling, she can be found searching for London's best brunch spot or playing with her cat, Diana Ross.