Websites receive more traffic from tablets than smartphones

After analyzing more than 100 billion visits to more than 1,000 websites, Adobe estimates that 8% of traffic now originates from tablets. Slightly less, 7%, comes from smartphones and the rest is attributed to desktop and laptop PCs.

The countries covered in Adobe's analysis were the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, China, Japan, France, and Germany. The biggest margin of difference between smartphone and tablet web traffic was found in the U.K. where 12.2% originated from tablets and 7.4 smartphones. In the US, the gap is narrower with 9.1% for tablets and 7.4% for smartphones.

"In Japan and China, however, smartphones remain the mobile browsing device of choice," writes Adobe manager and primary analyst on the Digital Index, Tyler White. "This is not surprising given the smartphone capabilities that have existed in Japan for years and the high costs of tablets and high speed mobile access in China."

The reason for tablet traffic exceeding smartphones is simple - people prefer to use the larger mobile device for more in-depth browsing. Consequently they are more valuable in terms of ecommerce and engagement. Adobe found that tablet users visit 70% more pages on a website than smartphone users and spend more per transaction.

Tags: Digital Index, ecommerce, Internet traffic, mcommerce, mobile, smartphone, tablet