New research from Ofcom shows that 27% of adults (and 47% of teenagers) now own a smartphone. Most of these people have acquired their device in the last 12 months.
Ofcom’s Communications Market Report also reveals that smartphone users make more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users, with 81% of smartphone users making calls every day compared with 53% of ‘regular phone’ users.
Applications have been downloaded by 47% of adult smartphone users, although just 25% of them have paid for an app. Games and music were the most popular paid-for apps amongst adults and teenagers. 28% of UK adults said they’d accessed the internet on their mobile.
Overall, 91% of people own own a mobile phone - up from 36% in 2000 - and one in seven households are now mobile-only. The number of mobile call ‘voice minutes’ has grown by 250% during the last ten years to 125 billion minutes per year, while the number of text messages sent has increased by 2000% to 129 billion per year.
James Thickett, Ofcom’s Director of Research, said “Ofcom’s 2011 Communications Market Report shows the influence that communications technology now has on our daily lives, and on the way we behave and communicate with each other. Our research into the use of smartphones, in particular, reveals how quickly people become reliant on new technology, to the point of feeling ‘addicted’.”