Magid Study: Over Half of Americans Will Own Tablets in May 2014

The growing popularity of tablets is pushing ownership of these devices towards majority status, with 44% of all Internet-connected Americans aged 8 to 64 owning one in May of 2013, up from 30% in 2012, according to the new Magid Media Futures study.

The Magid study also found that tablet ownership among online Americans grew 47% since 2012, and that growth will continue to 54% a year from now.

The Magid Media Futures study also found rapid growth in smartphone ownership, with 61% of online Americans owning one in May of 2013. Even higher rates were found among online Americans aged 18 to 34, where 79% owned a smartphone.

The company is expecting that smartphone ownership will hit 67% among Internet-connected U.S. consumers a year from now.

Rapidly growing ownership of these devices also translated in major expenditures on apps. Tablet spending on apps in the last 12 months was $2.3 billion among American tablet owners and $1.7 billion among smartphone owners, according to Magid.

"America is not just a connected country now, but a mobile-connected country," explained Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors, a unit of Frank N. Magid Associates, in a statement.

The study, which covers a nationally representative population of 2,400 respondents who are 8 to 64 years old and have access to the Internet, also found that Apple's iPad still dominates the tablet market with 54% of all tablets.

Over half (53%) of all tablet owners in the U.S. have Apple's full-sized iPad, about the same as 2012, and this rate rises to 59% when iPad minis are included.

Amazon's Kindle Fire has risen to 31% of tablet owners, up from 28% in 2012, while Samsung tablets now account for 19% of tablet owners, up from 13% in 2012.

In contrast, Android smartphones now account for a majority of smartphone owners in the U.S. at 53%, while iPhones make up 41%.

Samsung has with the largest group of Android owners at 50% of all Android smartphones and 26% of all smartphones.

The study also found that spending on apps by tablet owners grew 42% year-to-year, while smartphone spending on apps grew 44% year-to-year.

Video is proving to be a particularly popular application.

"The smartphone has become a mini-TV for many consumers," Vorhaus said in a statement. He noted that 38% of smartphone owners regularly watched video on their smartphones and almost 40% of those consumers are watching full-length movies and TV shows on their smartphones.

Among tablet owners, 63% said they regularly watch video on their tablets, with 69% of all tablet video viewers regularly watching long-form video.