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iPhone 5s Owners Using 20% More Cellular Data Than Last Year's iPhone 5 Owners

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Owners of the iPhone 5s, Apple's latest flagship smartphone, are using significantly more data than iPhone 5 owners consumed last year -- twenty percent more, according to a new research report from JDSU (via TechCrunch), in what the writer of the study called an "unprecedented increase" in uplink and downlink data demands.

The report examined data usage in both developed and developing markets, across more than a million mobile device users. iPhone 5s and fourth-generation iPad owners used the most data, with the Android-based HTC Sensation and the Sony Xperia SP coming up closely behind.
Users of the latest iPhone 5s consume more downlink data than any other smartphone users in both markets under study, consuming almost seven times and twenty times as much as the benchmark iPhone 3G users. This is consistent with the trend seen over the past three years where users of the flagship iPhone devices were the most data-hungry smartphone users. As in past years, we are not in a position to directly identify the root causes of this data consumption.
Click to expand...
developedmarkets.jpg
The study also found that iPhone 5c and iPad mini owners used less data than owners of Apple's more expensive devices -- though no easily-determined causal link can be drawn to those findings.

It noted that the top 1 percent of cellular users consume more than half of all downloaded data, with the top 10 percent of users consuming 90 percent of downloaded data. The company notes that this is broadly consistent with trends from the past two years. In addition, LTE data users, unsurprisingly, consume more data than users on slower data networks.

Article Link: iPhone 5s Owners Using 20% More Cellular Data Than Last Year's iPhone 5 Owners
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/22/iphone-5s-cellular-data-usage-up/
N

negativzero

macrumors 6502a
Jul 19, 2011
564
55
And all telcos worldwide are reducing their data quotas and increasing their price plans. It's madness.
 
J

JohnMantooth

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2011
43
16
New York, NY
No mention of Background App Refresh being a factor? I never touched my 2 GB limit until I upgraded to iOS7. Then I suddenly found myself at risk of going over for the first time ever... Flipped Background App Refresh off and I'm back to my normal data usage.
 
seamer

seamer

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2009
426
164
Comparing LTE to slower networks could be seen as misleading. Of course you download more on a faster network than a slower one.

Wonder if there really is a link between 5S and data where usage is a signifier of a savvy user, or just someone who has a 5S.
 
blackhand1001

blackhand1001

macrumors 68030
Jan 6, 2009
2,599
33
Just confirms what I have been feeling for a while. iOS seems to use more data for no reason a lot of the time.
 
bacaramac

bacaramac

macrumors 65816
Dec 29, 2007
1,424
100
Not sure you can compare other manufactures against each other's here. Doesn't each OS manage data and compression differently? I.e. HTC may handle data compression and efficiency differently than iPhone??

Not sure if I'm off base here, just a thought. However, for the first time ever I've gone over cap once on 5s so there is surely truth here.
 
C

Cubytus

macrumors 65816
Mar 2, 2007
1,436
18
seamer said:
Comparing LTE to slower networks could be seen as misleading. Of course you download more on a faster network than a slower one.

Wonder if there really is a link between 5S and data where usage is a signifier of a savvy user, or just someone who has a 5S.
Click to expand...
Yes, and with higher speeds come ridiculously low data caps, especially on decent high-speed home internet connections. 100Mbps, for example, come with 50GB caps.

Maybe on the previous-generation phones, CPU speed in itself was a limiting factor? Surely my 3GS doesn't react very fast.
 
D

doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,765
2,932
You know what that means. Apple is sending your fingerprint data to NSA every time you unlock.:p
 
N

Naaaaak

macrumors 6502a
Mar 26, 2010
637
2,068
As in past years, we are not in a position to directly identify the root causes of this data consumption
Click to expand...

I'll take some stabs.
  • People use phones to do more, especially phones that are easier to use.
  • More apps used, more data used.
  • Background updates.
 
IlluminatedSage

IlluminatedSage

macrumors 68000
Aug 1, 2000
1,563
339
Enquiring minds want to know:

Does the NSA Camera, Microphone and data spying on smartphones count against your data plan?

Or does the Gov't pay AT&T and other carriers direct on that?


:cool:

just saying...... uncool any which way.
 
iBreatheApple

iBreatheApple

macrumors 68030
Sep 3, 2011
2,950
1,023
Florida
Significantly is right. I've gone over almost every month so I've finally upgraded to the 3GB plan from 2 and I'm only just under my limit still! Something is off here... I never went over my 2GB plan, not even once, before the 5S/iOS 7.
 
Pompiliu

Pompiliu

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2012
544
0
Cubytus said:
Yes, and with higher speeds come ridiculously low data caps, especially on decent high-speed home internet connections. 100Mbps, for example, come with 50GB caps.
Click to expand...
50GB cap? My god that's low. You download a blu-ray movie and that's it. :eek:

Thank god i have 1Gbps down and no limit as i download a lot of stuff. Last month i've downloaded almost 1.5TB: mostly bluray movies (over 30GB each) and lots of tvshows and lossless music. :)
 
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