Users Unlock Phones Without Specific Intent 50% of the Time: BCG Report

A new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals just how deeply smartphones have become embedded into users' daily lives. The report, titled "Reimagining Smartphone Experience" shows that the average user now picks up their phone a staggering 70-80 times daily.

Remarkably, one out of every two times a user unlocks their phone, they do so without a specific intent in mind. BCG identified three main "journey types" that characterize users' smartphone habits:

• Pre-determined (45-50% of occasions): The user has a clear objective, like paying a friend on an app.

• Exploratory (5-10%): The user has a general goal, like buying a shirt online, but no app in mind yet.

• Spontaneous (45-50%): The user checks their phone habitually without any particular goal.

The report notes that as recently as 2010, users spent only about 2 hours per day on their phones. That figure has skyrocketed to 4.9 hours today, with over 50% of time spent on streaming content.

Kanika Sanghi, Lead, Centre for Customer Insights India, said, "In our research, we have seen ~50% of the times consumers do not have clarity on why they pick up the phone – they do it out of habit. Such occasions provide a great opportunity to guide consumers into relevant directions based on their interests by using Surface in a smart manner."

BCG conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups with over 50 consumers to understand modern smartphone usage habits. The firm then analyzed detailed phone activity data from over 1,100 users to quantify different types of usage occasions.

The report discusses how "surfaces," or AI-powered interfaces, could enhance the smartphone experience for various stakeholders, including app developers, phone manufacturers, advertisers, and content creators. With surfaces, phones could deliver more tailored, intelligent experiences to users throughout the day.

"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. 'Surfaces' can serve as the conduit to deliver this new evolved experience that's smart, seamless and often enables serendipity," said Nimisha Jain, Senior Partner and Managing Director.