So Why Do iPhone 4S Users Consume More Data?

Marco Arment, on why iPhone 4S users purportedly consume more data than iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users:

The camera, of course. Every iPhone after the 3G has shipped with a higher-resolution camera than its predecessor. People capture and share a lot of photos on their iPhones, so a very likely culprit for higher data usage, controlling for OS version and tethering abilities, is that the photos are simply much larger with each new iPhone.

Bigger pictures consume more data, but I think the real explanation is demographics. The type of people who consume higher-than-average amounts of data on their iPhones are exactly the sort of people who upgraded to the iPhone 4S as soon as it came out. I’d bet these numbers wouldn’t look much different even if the 4S had the same camera as the 4.

★ Friday, 24 February 2012