New figures suggest there are more mobile device connections on Earth than people.
Bank My Cell data has found that there are 8.7 billion mobile connections on the planet, as against a population of 7.6 billion people.
It says 65% of the world's population are unique mobile subscribers - at five billion.
Source: Bank My Cell
The data states not every person in the world has a mobile device.
It refers to mobile connections that come from people with multiple devices, and a fraction with dual SIM's or other integrated devices like cars.
Since 1973, mobile devices have surpassed the human population, making them the fastest growing man-made phenomenon.
GSMA real-time intelligence data shows 66.70% of the world’s population are now unique mobile subscribers.
While smartphone penetration data is ranked by the number of users within each market.
China leads with half their population scoring the most smartphone users, at 775 million.
Source: Bank My Cell
The United Arab Emirates has the highest smartphone penetration - with 82.2% of its population owning a smartphone.
Whereas Bangladesh has the lowest user to population ratio, at 5.40%.
The majority of the mobile market growth and penetration can be attributed to the increasing use of the smartphone.
For example in the US, manufacturers control 79.22% of the market where 71.5% of American mobile subscribers have a smartphone.
By the end of 2018, the global split between smartphone and mobile phone is expected to surpass 50%.
