Tablets and smartphones have become mainstream devices amongst Americans, with their use growing at an accelerating rate, a study has found.

According to a joint survey of more than 9,500 adults in the U.S. conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Economist Group, half currently use either a tablet computer or a smartphone to connect to the Internet.

The number of tablet owners doubled from last year, rising to 22%. And the demand for tablets is rising, too, with 23% of adults without a tablet saying they plan to purchase one in the next six months.

Lower-price tablets are taking market share. Last year 81% of tablet owners owned Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad. That fell to just 52% this year. Tablets running Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system rose to 48%. Amazon‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire tablets fared well in the survey with 21% of respondents saying they owned one.

Nearly half of respondents, 44%, have smartphones. That’s up from 35% last year.

Better than 60% of both smartphone and tablet users said they use their mobile devices to access news on at least a weekly basis. 73% of tablet owners said they read full-length feature articles on their device occasionally, while 61% of smartphone owners said the same.

Despite this, the survey found that the use of dedicated news apps remained low. Most mobile device users locate news using their device’s Web browser.