The mobile phone is dominating all over the world, and that's unlikely to change. While in developed countries it's easy to pull out your phone and check for emails or Google how old Barack Obama is, it seems as though soon enough it will be almost the same in many developing countries.
According to data released by Cisco in its annual phone growth report, by 2020 around 5.5 billion people will have a mobile phone of any kind, although not necessarily a smartphone.
While the number itself is pretty impressive, it's even more impressive when put into perspective. At the same time, it is expected that 5.3 billion will have electricity, only 3.5 billion will have running water and 2.8 billion people will drive cars.
The huge adoption rate of the phone highlights how important it is to have one in today's global society. Phones can be used for socializing, but they can also be important tools for emergencies, finance management or to keep up with happenings in the world.
It is also reported by Cisco that by 2020 global mobile traffic will have increased to a huge 367 exabytes - equivalent to 7 trillion average-length YouTube videos. That's up from 44 exabytes in 2015.
Of course, while the Internet of Things is becoming a major focus, where everything in our life can connect to the Internet, our phones will still be a major hub for all that connectivity. Not only that, but Cisco expects that the Internet of Things will push smartphone sales higher by quite a bit.
Cisco also commented on the fact that it things the worldwide average network speed will increase to 6.5 Mbps by 2020. Most developed countries, which have fast LTE networks, already exceed that figure, however developing countries have a huge impact on bringing that global average down.
