In German companies, the corporate mobile handset is increasingly becoming the norm. A survey that Bitkom released on Monday found that 56 percent of employees who need to communicate on the move are supplied with a company phone by their employer, and an additional three percent are forced to share a device with colleagues. Back in 2023, only 46 percent of workers had such a device; of those, 44 percent had a personal handset while the remaining two percent had to share a phone.
At the same time, the use of private smartphones for work purposes has dropped sharply. In 2023, 36 percent of employees still used their own phones at the office, whereas that figure fell to just 26 percent in the current survey. Private use of the company handset is now permitted in 93 percent of cases-up from 88 percent in 2023. Of the people who are allowed to use the device privately, 88 percent actually do so, while nine percent opt not to. Only a small minority, 3 percent, are forbidden from using the company phone for personal reasons.
Bitkom Research collected the data by phone‑surveying 1,006 residents of Germany aged 16 and older, including 495 people who use mobile phones professionally. The interviews were conducted during the first to fifth calendar weeks of 2026.
