WASHINGTON: A growing number of Americans use their mobile phones to access the internet, and some use that as their only device to get online, a survey showed Tuesday.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found 88 per cent of US adults had a cellphone of some kind as of April, and 55 per cent of them use their phone to go online.

One out of six, or 17 per cent of cellphone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device.

Most do so for convenience, but for some their phone is their only option for online access, the survey found.

Young adults and non-whites are most likely to use their cellphones for the majority of their online browsing, it found.

Among 18-29 year-olds, 45 per cent said they do most of their online browsing on their mobile device. That was also true of 51 per cent of African-American cell internet users and 43 per cent of Latinos.

“Cellphones are convenient, always available — 64 per cent of cell-mostly internet users mention factors related to convenience or the always-available nature of mobile phones when asked for the main reason why they do most of their online browsing on their cellphone,” a Pew report said.

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