Smartphones have overtaken laptops as the most popular device to get online

Ofcom has released the latest Communications Market Report, which shows that smartphones are now UK adults’ preferred devices for connecting online, overtaking laptops for the first time.

The amount of time UK adults spend online has also doubled in the past decade to more than 20 hours per week.

The phones unseated laptop computers as the most popular device for using the Internet, with the larger devices falling from 40 per cent of online connections in 2014 to 30 per cent in 2015.

The figures show a big swing since 2014, when 22 percent turned to their phone first and 40 percent plumped for their laptop.

Britons are spending an hour and 54 minutes accessing the Internet on their mobiles every day – compared to just an hour and nine minutes on PCs. At present, two thirds of us have a mobile phone, which is a rise from 39% in 2012.

“Those aged 16 to 24 are much more likely, as well as 25 to 34, to say their smartphone is the most important device to get online, whereas for the older age groups, they are much more likely to be sticking with their laptop”.

A third (33%) of internet access in 2015 was through the multi-purpose handsets, up from 23% in 2014, especially among younger age groups, according to Ofcom’s 2015 Communications Market Report.

The rise of 4G has played a huge part in the smartphone boom of recent years, with UK subscriptions rising from 2.7 million to 23.6 million in the last year alone. Thirty one per cent of adults admit to taking a selfie and in fact just over one in ten are saying they take a selfie at least once a week.

The rise of smartphone popularity has coincided with the rapid adoption of 4G technology with 89.5% of UK premises able to access at least one 4G mobile broadband service, with 42% able to choose from all four 4G providers – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s 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”.

My twitter is broke, my phone is broke, my life is broke. Conversely traditional desktop computers now accounting for just 14 per cent of Internet use.

“For young people, checking social media messages before breakfast is even more crucial”, the report noted.

The amount of TV people in Northern Ireland watch has fallen by 15 minutes to three hours and 47 minutes a day.