According to a new report released by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, smartphone use among US teens - aged between 12 and 17 years - has witnessed a sharp rise; with nearly 37 percent of the US teens using a smartphone to gain access to the Internet.

The report - titled `Teens and Technology 2013' - has revealed that the smartphone, rather than the desktop or the laptop, has become the "primary means" for nearly 23 percent of the teens to go online. However, the Pew survey also showed that only about 15 percent of the adults use a smartphone to access the Internet.

Going by the findings of the Pew survey, which involved the participation of 802 parents and their 802 teenaged children between July 26 and September 30, 2012, nearly 78 percent of the teenagers now own a cell phone; with 47 percent of those teens having a smartphone.

The figures thus imply that 37 percent of all teenagers possess a smartphone; marking a noteworthy increase over the 2011 figures which showed that 23 percent teens owned a smartphone.

Noting that the rise in the smartphone-usage figures for the teenagers was a significant one, especially since teens characteristically set trends for Internet use, quite like what they have done with social media and texting, Pew researcher Mary Madden told Reuters the increasing use of smartphones by teenagers to go online was "an important indicator moving forward."