Report: We all have different smartphone preferences, but battery life unites us

Chinese silicon manufacturer MediaTek just ran a new smartphone survey of users in the United States (with assistance from a company called Qualtrics). While the results of the survey display some predictable statistics, there are some notable bits of data.

The most interesting result centers on the one thing which unites all age groups when it comes to smartphones: battery life. According to the survey, battery life was the most important smartphone feature overall across all respondents.

With smartphone batteries getting bigger and bigger (aside from the Google Pixel 3 XL, which for some reason got smaller), smartphone buyers are likely getting better battery life than ever. The real question is though, will it ever be enough? Will we always complain about battery life, even when we get to the point where it lasts for a week on one charge?

Another interesting tidbit of data from the survey is that users from the ages of 45 to 55 and over placed a greater emphasis on the wireless carrier connected to a smartphone, while users from ages 18 to 44 ranked this as being one of the least important aspects of a smartphone. This result is likely because older generations aren’t aware — or don’t understand — how unlocked phones and carrier switching works.

Elsewhere in the report, the importance of smartphone camera features comes up. Unsurprisingly, younger users (aged 18 to 24) put a huge importance on taking selfies, with the average user in that age range taking at least one selfie every two days. Younger users also love dual cameras (ranked as the most important camera feature for users aged 18 to 24), AR stickers (used 30 percent of the time by users aged 18 to 44), and beautification effects (used about 34.5 percent of the time by users aged 25 to 44).

There was one other smartphone camera feature which united both the young and old: portrait mode. According to the smartphone survey results, respondents across all age groups reported using this feature 42 percent of the time.

With all that emphasis on taking photographs, you might be surprised to know what respondents across all age groups claim to do on average 26.3 days per month. If you guessed take photos, you’re wrong — it’s actually checking emails.

You can read a blog post about the results of the smartphone survey by clicking here.

NEXT: Flipkart survey reckons the notch is a ‘most wanted’ feature, we’re not so sure