*Projected
The chart above depicts an interesting trend of the web surfers who are decidedly moving towards a mobile-oriented world. The robust growth of the smartphone market and 3G/4G technology in recent years has pushed this trend, especially as mobile internet often provides a more viable online connection in geographies that lack the infrastructure and budget for traditional yet more expensive landline connections.
Mobile web browsing has been steadily growing since 2009, while the desktop’s share of web traffic has steadily decreased. The iPhone ushered in the modern smartphone era in around 2007, but the mobile web traffic didn’t even approach the 30% threshold until last 2014. According to data revealed by statista, mobile web traffic is projected to exceed 50% of the total worldwide web traffic by the end of 2017.
The trend also enforces developers and website owners to consider mobile compatibility not just because of growing traffic but because Google favors mobile-friendly websites for its mobile search results.