We look at the latest mobile internet and smartphone statistics, including how many people own a smartphone, the number of internet users in the UK and how many of us use apps for online banking.
In 2025, 95% of UK residents aged 16 and over own a smartphone, which equates to around 53 million people. The number of people with a smartphone has increased since 2023, when just 87% of people owned a smartphone.
| Year | Percentage of smartphone users |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 95.0% |
| 2024 | 94.0% |
| 2023 | 87.4% |
| 2022 | 89.3% |
| 2021 | 87.4% |
| 2020 | 82.0% |
| 2019 | 79.0% |
| 2018 | 78.0% |
| 2017 | 76.0% |
| 2016 | 71.0% |
| 2015 | 66.0% |
| 2014 | 60.5% |
In 2025, 98% of those aged 16-24 own a smartphone, while 99% of those aged 25-54 own a smartphone. This decreases slightly in the older age groups but ownership is still high, with 88% of 55+ year olds having a smartphone, dropping to 72% of those aged 75+.
| Age group | Percentage of smartphone users |
|---|---|
| 16-24 | 98% |
| 25-34 | 99% |
| 35-54 | 99% |
| 55+ | 88% |
| 65+ | 82% |
| 75+ | 72% |
The primary reason for not switching to a smartphone among those that don’t own one is that they are happy with their current phone and have no need for a smartphone (49%). Another common reason is that the individual has no need for a mobile phone whatsoever (22%), followed by the fact that using a smartphone would be too complicated (21%). 15% of those without a smartphone also found the cost of a handset too high to justify buying one.
| Reasons not to have a smartphone | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Happy with my current mobile phone / no need for a smartphone | 49% |
| No need for a mobile phone / not interested | 22% |
| Using a smartphone is too complicated | 21% |
| Cost of a smartphone handset is too high | 15% |
| Costs for using the phone (e.g. data and calling minutes) are too high | 9% |
| I have poor eyesight or another type of condition which makes it difficult to operate a smartphone | 5% |
| Poor or no signal where I live | 4% |
| Concerned about security/ fraud/ privacy | 2% |
| Concerned about harmful/offensive content | 1% |
As of 2023, the average person in the UK uses a whopping 9.9GB of mobile data each month. This has been increasing year-on-year and is up % from 8GB per month in 2022. Since 2019, the average monthly data usage in the UK has more than tripled.
| Year | Average mobile data usage per month |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 9.9GB |
| 2022 | 8GB |
| 2021 | 5.6GB |
| 2020 | 4.5GB |
| 2019 | 2.9GB |
The average Brit spends 3 hours and 21 minutes a day staring at their smartphone. This is higher than the amount spent watching a TV set, which is 3 hours and 16 minutes. Overall, people in the UK spend an average of 7 hours and 27 minutes per day consuming screen-based media.
The most popular mobile provider in the UK is EE, used by almost a quarter (23%) of Brits. EE was created from a merger between popular brands T-Mobile and Orange back in 2012. The second most popular network used by almost 1 in 5 Brits (18%) is O2. Vodafone comes in third place (16%) followed by Three or 3 (9%) and Tesco (8%).
| Network | Percentage of Brits using network |
|---|---|
| EE | 23% |
| O2 | 18% |
| Vodafone | 16% |
| Three/3 | 9% |
| Tesco | 8% |
95% of Brits have access to the internet at home in 2025, up from 92% in 2023. This means that 5% of Brits still can’t get onto the internet at home, despite many processes now relying on you having an internet connection.
Sophie Barber
Communications Manager
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