In 2007, we Spaniards were still dependent on landline phones. It is true that mobile phones already created a sensation at that time, but in our country, one in every four users had a landline. 16 years later the story has changed dramatically.

Saying goodbye to landline (gradual). The study (PDF) published by the Media Research Association on the General Framework of the Media in Spain reveals that 75.4% of the population in Spain had a landline in 2007. The emergence and rise of the smartphone meant that this device disappeared from our lives.

Own elaboration. Data: AIMC.

Less than half of households have a landline. This decreasing trend is clearly seen in the study. The flat rate remained above 70% until 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the decline in this equipment has been remarkable, and in this latest edition of the report, the psychological barrier of 50% has been lowered for the first time: only 49.5% of Spaniards have a landline at home.

It was said. The truth is that this trend is logical and is the same trend that has been experienced more prominently in, for example, the United States for some time. More than 90 percent of homes here had a landline in 2004, but by the end of 2022 that figure was less than 30 percent, according to Statista data.

More personal than ever. The convenience of landlines has been cornered by the ubiquity and convenience of mobile phones. In addition to the fact that we now do almost everything with our smartphone, we no longer need to share the landline at home with our family. The phone has become a personal device.

But we don’t even call anymore. There is another factor contributing to this decline in landline sales. This has to do with the fact that we don’t use the phone much as a phone anymore because we don’t talk much. Instant messaging has replaced many voice calls: we were talking about 7 billion messages sent per day on WhatsApp alone in 2022.

Consoles are stagnant. There are other interesting data in the study that mention the percentage of Spaniards who have a video game console at home. One might expect this figure to increase, but in reality it did not happen so: in 2007 it was 25.2%, and in 2023 it is 25.4%.

Desktop computer crashes… The decrease in the availability of desktop computers is another of the most striking elements of the study. Between 2007 and 2023, the percentage of homeowners increased from 41.4% to 24.4%.

…and the laptop turns on. For laptops, the situation is the opposite; The situation is exactly the opposite for laptops, which are the biggest winners in this field, thanks, among other things, to the fact that laptops have improved and become significantly cheaper over these 16 years: in 2007, the percentage of people who owned laptops was 13.1%. Just five years later, in 2012, it rose to 45.8. Growth was softer thereafter, but more or less sustainable, and in 2023 58.1% of Spaniards have at least one laptop at home.

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