In Argentina, 24% of the population owns a smartphone, while in Mexico the penetration rate is 20% and in Brazil it is only 14%. Argentinians still lead when it comes to how often they use their smartphones to access the Internet with 67% of respondents saying they access the Internet on their smartphone at least once a day, followed by 66% of Mexicans and 42% of Brazilians.

The three countries were part of a research survey commissioned by Google and conducted by Ipsos MediaCT in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Dubbed “Our Mobile Planet,” the study shows how smartphones have become an increasing part of daily life, transforming consumer behavior, helping users navigate the world and connecting advertisers with consumers.

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The survey showed that smartphone use is expected to increase in the three Latin American countries. In Brazil, 51% of users say they expected to use their smartphone more to access the Internet in the future, followed by 36% of Mexicans and 31% of Argentinians.

Keep in mind that it is a Google study, but the survey noted that smartphones are also becoming the major access point for search engines with 65% of Mexicans searching on their smartphones every day, followed by 63% of Argentinians and 50% of Brazilians. People use their devices to find things they need in their daily lives, such as restaurants, pubs, travel information, and job offers.

This could explain why applications are up. In Argentina, each user has 16 installed apps on average, of which seven were used in the past 30 days and four are paid apps. In Brazil, the respective numbers are 14, six and two; in Mexico, they are 18, eight and seven.

The video trend was also apparent. The survey showed that smartphone users are also avid video watchers, frequent social networkers and multi-taskers.