Nobody is arguing the "trend" what you're missing is even with the "trend" the amount of people involved in this "trend" is statistically much lower than those not involved. Those in the "trend" are in the minority.
A trend is fine but it doesnt change the statistical numbers that prove the minority of users utilize the phone anywhere near as much as those who dont.
Its like saying "health consciousness in America is trending much higher than previous years", which it is. It doesnt change the fact that Americans lead the obesity averages in the world.
Trends are a shift and thats it. Your trend however would need to take a staggering shift to not be in the minority. Over Half of the US workforce would need to utilize mobile phones for them not to be in the minority. According to your stats only 7% currently do.
Of course there will never be a majority who will fall in with the trend of teleworking. There are jobs that are impossible to do from home. Police work, military, industry, all require travel to a workplace. It is ludicrous to attempt to make a case for a majority of a workforce being telework. But telework *IS* coming further into use. It *IS* a trend.
But let’s get back to your post which I originally answered.
If the call still shows up without taking over what your doing its still a phone, just not an invasive phone when unwanted spam calls come through.
Unfortunately these phones are rarely used for calls anymore. Its too easy to handle communication other than making an actual call. Truth be told, calls are the most annoying aspect of phones nowadays.
“Unfortunately these phones are rarely used for calls anymore.”
This is incongruous with the statistics I showed.
Let me use one real life scenario rather than statistics.
DHS Headquarters has several components, scattered all over DC. These are thousands of people. By 2020, all these components will consolidate under one roof in a location in the southern side of DC. In order to accommodate these literal thousands of employees, DHS will be hoteling. Meaning that an employee logs into a reservation app and chooses a workstation for the day. They will bring with them their laptop or use thin client stations that will allow them to log into the virtual desktop through a dumb terminal to the server. The one thing they will always have is their mobile. Which they will use since there will not be desktops and the soft phone may not be an option in noisy open work spaces.
Besides the work situation, there are increasing numbers who no longer keep a landline. I haven’t had a landline since 2005. Why pay for a landline when I can be immediately reached everywhere on my mobile? That is another trend that is on the rise.
So the premise that the phone function is rarely used doesn’t take these populations into account, those who do their phones as phones.