According to reports issued by several market-research firms, including Forrester Research, the total number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 3 billion this year—40 percent of the human population. For many, these versatile handheld devices have become indispensable tools, providing connections to loved ones, entertainment, business applications, shopping opportunities, windows into the greater world of social media, news, history, education, and more. And of course, they can always be put to use for a quick selfie. With so many devices in so many hands now, the visual landscape has changed greatly, making it a rare event to find oneself in a group of people anywhere in the world and not see at least one of them using a phone. Collected here: a look at that smartphone landscape, and some of the stories of the phones’ owners.
The Ubiquity of Smartphones, as Captured by Photographers
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People use their smartphones to take photos of the L'Oreal fashion show on Champs Elysees Avenue during a public event, part of Paris Fashion Week, in France, on October 1, 2017. #
Charles Platiau / Reuters -
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A Palestinian woman takes a picture of a member of the Israeli security forces as he also takes her picture in a street in Jerusalem on December 16, 2017, as demonstrations continued to flare in the Middle East and elsewhere over the U.S. president's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. #
Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty -
Inna Salminen, 27, a forest engineer, uses her smartphone as she inspects a forest in Nurmijarvi, Finland, on November 5, 2018. Inna uses an application on her smartphone for forest control—to plan maintenance work and to make sure that the protected areas are respected. #
Alessandro Rampazzo / AFP / Getty -
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Chen San-yuan, 70, known as "Pokémon Grandpa," talks on his cellphone as he plays the mobile game "Pokémon Go" by Nintendo on multiple devices mounted to his bicycle's handlebars, near his home in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on November 12, 2018. #
Tyrone Siu / Reuters -
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Reda Zerrouki, a 36-year-old Algerian who is among thousands of migrants crossing the Balkans in hopes of reaching Europe, explains the importance of his smartphone in front of Main Railway Station in Sarajevo, on November 7, 2018. For Zerrouki, his smartphone is more than just a way to message family and friends; it is also a crucial tool used to map his route through the Balkans region and to avoid police patrolling the borders as groups of migrants pass through Bosnia and attempt an illegal crossing into neighboring Croatia, hoping to travel further into the EU countries. #
Elvis Barukcic / AFP / Getty -
Fans record videos as the boy band Modern Brothers performs during a live webcast at Andong Old Street in Dandong, Liaoning province, China, on June 30, 2018. Modern Brothers has more than 20 million fans on the TikTok app, a music-powered short-video social platform, which is very popular in China. #
VCG via Getty -
In this July 28, 2018, photo, a young participant of the "Temper of Will" summer camp, organized by the nationalist Svoboda party, uses his cellphone to call his parents in a village near Ternopil, Ukraine. #
Felipe Dana / AP -
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The Italian cattle breeder Pier Domenico Dotta uses his smartphone to check the cattle-stall-register app in his farm in Villafalletto, near Turin, Italy, on October 25, 2018. With this free app made by "Anaborapi" (Piedmontese Bovine Breeders Association), cattle breeders check the conditions of every single cow. Animals wear a special collar with a chip used to connect each animal to the app software. #
Marco Bertorello / AFP / Getty -
Supporters of Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned presidential candidate of People's Democratic Party (HDP), hold HDP flags and their lit cellphones in the air during an election campaign in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 17, 2018. #
Yasin Akgul / AFP / Getty -
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Pope Francis blesses a photo of a child, displayed on a cellphone, at the end of a special audience with members of the Christian Workers' Movement in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on January 16, 2016. #
Alessandra Tarantino / AP -
Imelda Mumbi, 13, holds her smartphone as she studies online using an application, in a common area of a residential apartment next to her home in the Riruta suburb of Nairobi, Kenya, on November 8, 2018. Mumbi has been studying for four years on a web-based tutorial platform developed by Eneza Education. The platform aims to offer education opportunities, especially for rural areas in Africa, through SMS or internet for 10 Kenyan shillings (10 U.S. cents) per week. About five million learners are registered in Kenya, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. #
Tony Karumba / AFP / Getty -
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Muhammad Noshad, a Pakistani employee of the state-run Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), takes a meter reading with his smartphone at a commercial building in Islamabad on November 7, 2018. Noshad, who has been with IESCO for 23 years, said the introduction of the smartphone has impacted his job by making it easier to take images of the meters and record their information to prepare monthly bills for customers. #
Aamir Qureshi / AFP / Getty -
A Central American immigrant, moving in a caravan through Mexico, looks at her cellphone as she journeys in an empty car of a freight train, after it stopped in Guanajuato state, Mexico, on April 14, 2018. #
Edgard Garrido / Reuters -
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U.S. Senator Jeff Flake speaks with reporters after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, on Capitol Hill on September 28, 2018, in Washington, D.C. #
Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty -
The Nigerian refugee Aicha Younoussa poses with a smartphone in front of her tent in Bol on November 8, 2018. Due to Boko Haram's threat, Aicha and her family left Nigeria four years ago, finding shelter in the refugee camp of Baga Sola in southern Chad. #
Michele Cattani / AFP / Getty -
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Honduran migrants taking part in a caravan heading to the U.S. charge their cellphones at a temporary shelter in Juchitan de Zaragoza, Oaxaca state, Mexico, on October 30, 2018. #
Guillermo Arias / AFP / Getty -
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The faithful, holding selfie sticks and cellphones, take photos of Pope Francis (bottom center, partly hidden) as he arrives for his weekly general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on August 22, 2018. #
Vincenzo Pinto / AFP / Getty -
Sangeeta Agnes Hosea (center), the lead singer of the Indian band Midnight Poppies, poses for a photograph with her smartphone during a jam session in Bangalore on November 10, 2018. Hosea uses her smartphone to record her songs and also to promote the band on social media. #
Manjunath Kiran / AFP / Getty -
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A young boy checks out an iPhone at Thailand's first official Apple store at IconSiam, a 54 billion Baht (1.65 billion U.S. dollars) luxury retail and residential complex on the Chao Praya River, during its grand opening in Bangkok, on November 9, 2018. #
Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP / Getty -
Attendees take photos and videos of President Donald Trump as he attends the 2018 Young Black Leadership Summit in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 26, 2018. #
Cathal McNaughton / Reuters -
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Spectators photograph Tiger Woods as he tees off on the 13th tee during round one of the Northern Trust FedEx Cup Playoffs on August 23, 2018, at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. #
Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty -
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