Nearly two-thirds of the Australian population now own a smartphone, according to new research which shows more time is being spent online using the devices.
From ownership rates of 37 per cent in 2011, penetration has soared to 64.6 per cent, driven by a slew of new models, slicker operating systems, better software and improving networks.
The Aussie ownership rate is higher than most other developed nations including the US, UK, Germany and France, according to research by Google and marketing firm, Ipsos.
Only the United Arab Emirates (73.8 per cent of the population), Korea, (73 per cent), Singapore (71.7 per cent) and Norway (67.5 per cent) have higher rates, according to the Our Mobile Planet 2013 report.
The fact that smartphones have reached such levels of ubiquity in Australia is not a massive surprise - it's been coming.
Just over half of the Australian population owned one in 2012.
But the Google and Ipsos research confirms that we're using smartphones to do more.
Just over 70 per cent now regularly watch videos on their devices, with 19 per cent doing so every day, the research shows.
And 41 per cent of Australian smartphone owners said they'd spent more time online with their device in the past six months.
The average user is now said to have 33 apps installed and 49 per cent use smartphones to access newspaper or magazine services.
A further 29 per cent said they'd rather give up television than their smartphone.
Telstra chief technology officer Dr Hugh Bradlow said he believes the ownership rate will continue to rise.
"Australians are very fast adopters and I attribute that to the fact we're a very spread-out country," he told AAP.
Dr Bradlow also predicts that by 2020 smartphones will be used to pay for goods, act as car and house keys as well as making good old fashioned telephone calls.
It comes as another report shows that smartphone manufacturers Samsung and Apple both lost global market share over the past 12 months, though they remained the dominant players and shipped record numbers of units.
Data published by the IDC research group showed that Samsung currently has 30.4 per cent of the global smartphone market, down from 32.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2012.
Apple has 13.1 per cent of the market, down from 16.6.
Smaller players like LG, Lenovo and ZTE all gained market share in the past 12 months.
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