Global Smartphone Traffic to Increase Tenfold by 2019

Global smartphone data traffic is expected to continue its meteoric rise over the next few years. According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, smartphone traffic is set to grow from 1.74 exabyte per month in 2014 to more than 18 exabyte per months in 2019. Cisco further estimates that smartphones will account for 75% of mobile traffic in 2019, up from 69% in the past year.

The increase in smartphone data consumption will be fuelled by two factors that work in the same direction: the ever-growing number of smartphones in use and the increase of individual data consumption. As mobile networks grow faster, users are expected to adapt their usage and consume more data-intensive content, such as high-definition video, on their phones. The average smartphone will expectedly generate 4 GB of traffic per months in 2019, a fivefold increase over last year’s global average.