More than 72% Of U.S. Adults own cell phones.

Of all U.S. adults, 72.4% own a cell phone and more than 80% of those devices have camera, text messaging and game features, according to data from Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI).

Predictably, usage of text messaging and games decreases as the age of the cell phone owner increases. However, usage of cell phone camera–a feature that typically does not include additional costs to use–is far more widespread across all ages.

Of the 72.4% of adults (age 18+) with cell phones, 96.6% have in-phone cameras, 93.8% have text-messaging capability, 81.1% contain games and 74.7% are web enabled.

With regard to picture-taking, 55.6% of all adults with cell phone cameras had used the camera in the last 30 days. The highest usage (69.2%) was among people ages 18-24, while the figure was 40.3% among adults ages 65-plus.

Adults 18-24 report the highest use of text messaging, with 58.7% having used the feature in the last 30 days. Even among the older age groups, however, more than 20% report they have text messaged in the same timeframe.

The highest incidence of cell phone game usage is, again, in the 18-24 demographic, with 39.2% having used the feature in the last 30 days. In contrast, among adults 65-plus, 14.7% had played a cell phone game.

“For all the features in most cell phones, it seems that, for now, many adults use them exclusively to make phone calls,” said Anne Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI. “It will be interesting to see how MRI data on feature usage changes in the coming years.”

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