50% of time Indian users pick up their phones out of habit: Report

New Delhi, February 12

One out of two (50 per cent) times Indian users pick up their phones without knowing why they fired up their smartphone, a new report revealed on Monday.

According to the global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a typical smartphone user picks up the phone 70-80 times a day.

“In our research, we have seen about 50 per cent of the time consumers do not have clarity on why they pick up the phone — they do it out of habit,” said Kanika Sanghi, lead, Centre for Customer Insights India.

The findings in the report are based on actual clicks/swaps data of over 1,000 users and in-depth consumer interviews conducted across India.

Moreover, the report found that 45 to 50 per cent of the time consumers are very clear on the task to be accomplished, and 5 to 10 per cent of the time consumers have partial clarity.

“Smartphones are evolving — the recent spate of discussions in media and at industry events on themes like ‘AI on device’ or ‘app-less experience through Gen AI’ is a testament to that evolution,” said Nimisha Jain, senior partner and managing director at BCG.

The report also mentioned that Indian smartphone users love to stream video content (short-form/long-form) as 50 to 55 per cent of their time is spent on streaming apps, while socialising (texts/calls), shopping, searching (for information on travel, jobs, hobbies etc.) and gaming.