At the sharp end of conflict in Syria, in a schoolchild's bag in Kenya,
whether fighting deadly diseases or studying forestry, the smartphone has
become ubiquitous in just over a decade.
This year, the number of users is expected to pass three billion, and AFP
photographers have sampled how the phones have become a mainstay of lives
around the world for people who cannot live without them.
25-year-old Ugandan entrepreneur Moris Atwine helped to develop a mobile app
to aid in the diagnosis of malaria, a worldwide killer, without the need for
a blood sample, and transmit the result in seconds.
Qiao Xi, 21, describes her smartphone as her "boyfriend". From an all-blue
studio, the Beijing-based vlogger live-streams songs, dance moves and
observations about her daily life to 600,000 followers on the Huoshan
channel.
Mohammed Hamroush is a member of the "White Helmets" group, which rushes to
help the wounded in rebel-held parts of Syria. Hamroush's smartphone helps
the volunteer to track bombardments, get to where help is needed, and allows
his worried wife to know he's safe.
Inna Salminen works in far calmer conditions, surveying the forests of
Finland, but knows too that her smartphone can be a lifesaver if she gets
lost in a remote area.
The 27-year-old conservation expert speaks for a whole generation when she
describes only having a "hazy memory" of life before smartphones.
Aged 13, Imelda Mumbi has no such memory at all. The Kenyan schoolgirl uses
her smartphone for fun, of course, but also to help her studies.
Imelda counts on Eneza, an interactive educational app which has about three
million users worldwide, plugging her corner of Africa into a global network
that has grown from nothing in a few short years
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