New Zealand's smartphone market will grow 20% in the next 12 months with over half of adults expected to use the technology by mid next year.

According to a new Smartphone Market monitoring report from Horizon Research, another 621,300 Kiwis are expected to indulge in the market by 2013, increasing the device usage by 20%.

With over a third (36.2%) of adults currently owning smartphones across the country, Horizon says there will be rapid growth in ownership in the next 12 months.

The survey, based on 3,022 adults nationwide, suggests a further 19.1% of adults will buy a smartphone during the next year, 3.5% of these within the next three months, 2.5% in the next six months and 13.1% in the next 12 months.

Such market movement indicates 55.3% of adults will have smartphones by mid 2013.

Despite possessing the smaller market share, 2 degrees has more customers using smartphones than rival providers, covering 40.8% of its customer compared to 36.2% of Vodafone’s and 32% of Telecom’s.

The study says Aucklanders will be moving to the new technology faster than the population as a whole with smartphone use highest among 25 – 34 year olds at 53.5% while usage increases with income, spiking among those earning between $100,001 and $150,000 per year.

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