Smartphones have overtaken laptops as the most popular device for getting online, Ofcom research has revealed.
Two thirds of people now own a smartphone, using it for nearly two hours every day to browse the internet, access social media, bank and shop online.
- Smartphones overtake laptops as UK internet users’ number one device
- We’re spending two hours online on our smartphones every day; twice as long as laptops and PCs
- Superfast 4G is helping change the way we shop, bank, watch TV and communicate
So what does this mean for installers? With things like ordering products using your phone, live-video technical support, apps and taking card payments, it could make day-to-day life easier.
Ofcom’s 2015 Communications Market Report, found that a third (33%) of internet users see their smartphone as the most important device for going online, compared to 30% who are still sticking with their laptop.
The rise in smartphone surfing marks a clear shift since 2014, when just 22% turned to their phone first, and 40% preferred their laptop.
Smartphones have become the hub of our daily lives and are now in the pockets of two thirds (66%) of UK adults, up from 39% in 2012.
The surge is being driven by the increasing take-up of 4G mobile broadband, providing faster online access. During 2014, 4G subscriptions have leapt from 2.7 million to 23.6 million by the end of 2014.
We now spend almost twice as long online with our smartphones than on laptops and personal computers. On average, mobile users spent nearly two hours online each day using a smartphone in March 2015 (1 hour and 54 minutes), compared to just over an hour spent online by laptop and PC users (1 hour and nine minutes).1
But this is still only half of the 3 hours and 40 minutes we spend in front of the TV each day.
James Thickett, Ofcom Director of Research, said: “4G has supercharged our smartphones, helping people do everything from the weekly shop to catching up with friends with a face-to-face video call. For the first time, smartphones have overtaken laptops as the UK’s most popular internet device and are now the hub of our daily lives.”
Mobile manners
- Mobile phones may be a permanent fixture in our daily lives, but tweeting or updating social media status when sitting down to dinner remains a no-no for most people
- Over half of people (55%) think it’s unacceptable to pick up your phone alongside your knife and fork. Yet four in ten people (42%) admit to checking their phone at the dinner table
- Over a third of adults (34%) turn over and check their phones within five minutes of waking up. For young people, checking social media messages before breakfast is even more crucial – around half (49%) of young people aged 18-24 check their phones within five minutes of waking up.
- But despite our increasing mobile use, birthday greetings still require more than a text message
- The traditional card sent through the post remains the most popular way to say ‘Happy Birthday’, with two fifths (38%) of people choosing to hand write their birthday wishes, compared to 15% using social media and just 7% sending a text message.
