A new survey from Deloitte paints the 2025 digital UK consumers. They are holding onto smartphones longer, with fewer planning new device purchases as digital services outweigh hardware appeal. Social media fatigue and de-digitalisation trends are rising, with one in five deleting apps to reclaim time. For the mobile industry, trusted, relevant services—not devices—are now the key to consumer value.
The UK mobile ecosystem is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation: consumer demand for new physical devices is slowing as digital services take centre stage in people’s digital lives. Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends 2025 (UK Edition) reveals a market reaching maturity in terms of hardware adoption—but far from stagnant. For mobile operators, service providers, and digital platforms, the shift signals both opportunity and challenge: how to monetise an increasingly service-driven, rather than device-driven, consumer base.
Consumers Hold Off on New Devices
One of the most striking findings is that 35% of UK consumers do not intend to purchase any new device in the next 12 months, an increase of 2 percentage points from last year. This suggests that the post-pandemic wave of tech replacement has well and truly passed. With no major new device form factors on the horizon, the era of frequent upgrades appears to be ending.
The hesitancy to buy is not spread equally across all device categories. Smartphones remain the most likely planned purchase (24%), but this figure is significantly lower than in previous years and far below historic peaks. Tablets (11%) and laptops (14%) have seen even sharper declines in purchasing intention, while interest in desktops (6%), smartwatches (12%), and VR headsets (5%) remains niche. The only device category showing slight growth in planned purchasing is wireless headphones (12%), potentially reflecting ongoing interest in audio and mobile media consumption.
For operators and the mobile ecosystem, this indicates that the physical device is no longer the growth driver—value is migrating to the services, applications, and experiences that run on these increasingly long-lived devices.
The Changing Lifecycle of the Smartphone
The smartphone remains the UK’s essential personal technology device, with 95% ownership and the highest daily usage rate across all device types (97% daily active users). But this enduring importance contrasts with a significant slowdown in device replacement cycles.
According to Deloitte, over half (54%) of smartphones in the UK are now 18 months old or more, and this trend has grown consistently since 2019, when only 42% of devices were this old. In 2019, consumers were more likely to replace phones within 18 months, driven by the allure of new features, perceived performance gains, and operator subsidies.
The UK mobile consumer market is not slowing—it is maturing. Devices have reached a plateau in appeal, but digital services are more essential than ever. Meanwhile, users are reasserting control, limiting distraction, and demanding meaningful, trustworthy engagement.“
That dynamic has shifted. Today’s smartphones have reached a technological plateau: larger cameras, on-device AI features, and incremental processing improvements are not sufficiently compelling to trigger mass upgrades. Consumers increasingly view the smartphone as a “good enough” utility—a durable personal tool rather than a fashion statement or status object.
This poses an opportunity and a challenge for mobile operators, OEMs, and service providers alike. On one hand, consumers are likely to keep devices longer, creating stability in user bases and device environments. On the other hand, the ecosystem must find new ways to add value—through software, services, content, and trusted communications—rather than depending on the traditional upgrade cycle.
De-Digitalisation: The Rise of the Conscious Digital Consumer
Perhaps more revealing than slowing device turnover is the growing phenomenon of ‘de-digitalisation’—a conscious effort by consumers to limit or reshape their use of digital technology. This is no longer a fringe behaviour: according to Deloitte, one in five (19%) UK consumers have deliberately broken or ended a digital streak in the past year, while 18% have set screen-time limits on their devices. Half of all respondents (50%) reported turning off notifications from one or more apps, reflecting a strong desire to reduce digital intrusion in daily life.
This trend is especially significant for the mobile ecosystem because it signals shifting consumer priorities: the digital environment must now respect attention, relevance, and personal control—not simply provide more content or more notifications.
The Social Media Pullback: A Sign of Consumer Fatigue
A particularly clear indicator of this behavioural shift is seen in social media use. Deloitte reports that 20% of UK consumers have deleted a social media app in the past 12 months, while 22% have joined a new one—suggesting churn, experimentation, and dissatisfaction.
Why are users walking away from established platforms? Slide 42 of the report offers detailed insight:
- 26% cited that social media consumed too much of their time, showing the desire to reclaim control over daily habits.
- 25% wanted a break from the app, indicating emotional or cognitive fatigue.
- 22% simply stopped using the app—a quiet but significant form of digital abandonment.
- 22% found content boring or less entertaining, suggesting that platform novelty is wearing thin.
- Other motivations included misinformation (21%), negative interactions (13%), and mental health impacts (20%).
These are not trivial reasons. For mobile ecosystem players—including operators, OTT service providers, and CPaaS platforms—the message is clear: content, communication, and engagement must be trusted, relevant, and respectful of user time and focus. Irrelevant, repetitive, or intrusive messaging risks accelerating this disengagement trend.
Post-Materialism: Digital Services as the New Value Centre
Taken together, these trends point to a broader socio-technical shift: the UK consumer has gone post-material when it comes to mobile technology. The hardware no longer excites or compels; it is the services, content, experiences, and security provided via the device that matter most.
For example:
- Payments, identity, health services, and digital entertainment are growing in perceived value, while the physical handset fades into the background.
- Trust frameworks such as verified messaging (RCS, A2P SMS, WhatsApp Business) are becoming critical differentiators, as consumers reject spam and insist on relevance.
- AI-driven personalisation—done responsibly—offers the next service frontier, if companies can balance usefulness with privacy and ethical design.
The challenge for the mobile ecosystem is to shift its value proposition toward these intangible services, to extend customer relationships beyond the device purchase or contract renewal. This requires renewed focus on customer experience, consent-driven communication, service bundling, and platform innovation.
MEF’s view: Maturing but still central.
The UK mobile consumer market is not slowing—it is maturing. Devices have reached a plateau in appeal, but digital services are more essential than ever. Meanwhile, users are reasserting control, limiting distraction, and demanding meaningful, trustworthy engagement.
