“The share of Americans who read books on tablets or cellphones has increased substantially since 2011,” Pew explains, “while the share using dedicated e-readers has remained stable.” Notably, the e-readers are not dropping away. They picked their medium of choice way back in 2011 and are staying strong. However, like a tree growing around a bike, the steadily increasing number of cellphone-reading Americans has passed the e-reader crowd by.
Okay, Technically, the Difference Is Just a Few Percentage Points
But the important metric here is that cellphone book reading is still on the rise, while e-book readers have leveled off. Here are the official numbers, from Pew:
But Neither Beats Print Book Readers
Print books, which had a 576-year head start, are still ahead. By a lot: By contrast, 8% of Americans now report that they read books using dedicated e-reader devices – nearly identical to the 7% who reported doing so in 2011.” Still, the evidence shows that e-readers are a little outdated: Tablets and smartphones can deliver essentially the same book reading experience while also letting people tweet, text, email, and locate the nearest Squirtle.
