Slow adoption of the latest mobile devices means that UK consumers are not likely to enjoy the benefits of superfast 5G networks any time soon, research has found.
Analysis of the most popular smartphones across the UK has found that only 33% of mobiles in the country support 4G/LTE connectivity, with consumers being restricted from getting their hands on the latest devices due to being tied to long-term contracts.
This put the country far behind the US and South Korea, who were identified as the world leaders in LTE adoption, boasting 67% and 76% adoption rates for LTE-enabled phones respectively. China had the lowest rate of adoption, with just 7% of devices in the country able to access the superfast networks.
The findings, from web analysis firm Netbiscuits, come a day after the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said that the capital would be connected to 5G technology by 2020 as part of his long-term plan to ensure the city remained a major technology centre.
Surprisingly, the iPhone 4 and 4S, released in June 2010 and October 2011 respectively, were found to be the most popular mobile devices in the UK, with the iPhone 5 family (including the 5C and 5S devices) taking top spot across the rest of the world.
South Korea again led the way when it came to customers using the latest mobile devices, with the country also recording the biggest proportion of large-screen devices (measuring 5 to 5.9in) thanks in part to the popularity of the natively-produced Samsung Galaxy S5.
Overall, Android continued to grow its share of traffic, reaching 57% of web traffic from mobile phones worldwide this quarter, up from 55% in the last quarter. iOS remained unchanged at 32% of total mobile phone web traffic.
