Half of US Adults Now Own Tablet or Smartphone: Survey

Inti St Clair | Blend | Getty Images

The case for Americans having a bad case of mobile mania just got a little bit stronger.

Half of the adult American population are now owners of a tablet or a smartphone, according to a recent survey.

The survey, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, also revealed that one-third of adult tablet and smartphone owners are using their mobile devices to catch up on news stories and watch videos at least once a week, a habit that could mean "major implications for how news will be consumed and paid for," according to Pew.

Pew's findings, which are based on a survey of 9,513 U.S. adults conducted from June to August this year, also found that mobile users aren't using news apps, but prefer to get their content via web browser on mobile devices.

On a less surprising note, mobile users still don't like to pay for content online, according to the survey. Only 24 percent of the mobile news users said they were considering switching their print subscriptions to the digital version, although the report did point out that this number is likely to grow.

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