Philip Morris International marks a decade of IQOS

Philip Morris International (PMI) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the introduction of its leading smoke-free product, IQOS.

The launch of this smoke-free innovation was a breakthrough moment toward achieving the company’s commitment to a future without cigarettes.

In Japan – the first market where IQOS was launched in 2014- newly released public health data by the National Health and Nutritional Survey (NHNS), an annual survey conducted since 1948 by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, shows a 46 per cent decrease in cigarette-smoking prevalence since 2014, dropping from 19.6 per cent of all adults to 10.6 per cent in 2022.

This decline correlates with the introduction of heated tobacco products and their subsequent widespread adoption by millions of adults who smoke in Japan. The country continues to have the highest number of heated-tobacco-product users, and tobacco prevalence has not increased since they were introduced.

IQOS now generates over $10 billion (£8bn) of PMI’s annual net revenues and the product is available in over 70 markets worldwide, with 30.8 million estimated users.

“With the debut of IQOS, we launched PMI’s vision of a smoke-free company, creating an opportunity to solve the problem of smoking,” PMI chief executive Jacek Olczak said.

“Every day, IQOS demonstrates its potential for this, as evidenced by the approximately 22 million adults around the world who have fully switched to it and stopped smoking. IQOS is the world’s leading smoke-free product, and we are committed to continuing to lead the way to a future where better alternatives have completely replaced cigarettes, while moving forward to become a predominantly smoke-free company by 2030.”

Smoke-free products accounted for 38 per cent of PMI’s net revenues in Q3 2024, up from practically zero per cent in 2014.