Research conducted by online smartphone retailer, Mobiles.co.uk, has found that we would need to own at least 56 additional items (see below table for the full list of objects) if it wasn’t for our trusted smartphones.
One of the key advantages of owning a smartphone is the amount of space you can save. Focusing on the iPhone 11 that weighs 194g, the findings unveiled a 99% weight decrease between the iPhone 11 and the 56 extra items (which weigh approximately 36kg).
The online smartphone retailer also discovered there can be a significant price difference between the iPhone 11 and the cost of the 56 items.
An iPhone 11, SIM-free from Mobiles.co.uk is currently £729. With the total cost of owning the 56 extra items found on a smartphone being £3,323.09, the online retailer can reveal that there is a price difference of £2,594.09, making a smartphone 78% cheaper too.
Karl Middleton, Mobile Expert at Mobiles.co.uk, says: “It’s interesting to think about all of the things our smartphones are capable of doing and it definitely helps us appreciate just how smart they are. However, many people may be unaware of how much money our smartphones can actually save us. So, if ‘saving more money’ is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you may want to consider looking at your smartphone’s capabilities before splashing out on more tech.”
PHOTO CAPTION: What it looks like if you try to carry some of the extra items instead of a smartphone
| 56 Items available on a smartphone | Retail Price (approx) | Weight in kgs (approx) |
| Address book | £7.34 | 0.09 |
| Alarm clock | £15 | 0.34 |
| Board games* | £18.78 | 0.93 |
| Power Bank | £20.88 | 0.35 |
| Calculator | £12.15 | 0.09 |
| Calendar | £11.74 | 0.24 |
| Loyalty Cards | £0 | 0.01 |
| Music (CD’s)* | £13 | 0.1 |
| Clock | £19.24 | 0.67 |
| Colouring book* | £21.27 | 0.05 |
| Compact mirror | £12.70 | 0.16 |
| Compass | £13.97 | 0.01 |
| Cookery book | £14 | 0.8 |
| Laptop | £494.25 | 1.27 |
| Debit cards | £0 | 0.01 |
| Diary | £10.70 | 0.32 |
| Digital weighing scales* | £15.40 | 1.42 |
| DVDs (film)* | £14.99 | 0.1 |
| Encyclopaedia | £14.14 | 1.1 |
| English dictionary | £14.64 | 0.24 |
| Fiction book* | £6.17 | 1 |
| Fitness tracker | £30 | 0.08 |
| Heart rate monitor | £37.89 | 0.04 |
| Foreign phrasebook | £5.88 | 0.8 |
| High-quality camera (for photography) | £695 | 0.7 |
| High-quality camera (for video) | £564 | 0.3 |
| Holiday brochures | £0 | 0.15 |
| Magazines (various)* | £1.99 | 0.02 |
| MP3 player (iPod) | £36.22 | 0.14 |
| Newspapers | 90p | 0.02 |
| Notebook | £8 | 0.69 |
| OS route maps* | £4 | 0.2 |
| Pen | 20p | 0.05 |
| Pencil crayons | £13.07 | 0.5 |
| Photo album | £15.24 | 1 |
| Playing cards | £6 | 0.09 |
| Polaroid camera | £85.78 | 0.4 |
| Portable games console* | £34.27 | 0.27 |
| Portable speaker | £66.48 | 1.3 |
| Road map | £5 | 1.1 |
| Ruler | £7 | 0.06 |
| Satnav | £73.63 | 0.76 |
| Spirit level* | £6 | 0.33 |
| Stopwatch | £9 | 0.2 |
| Takeaway menus | £0 | 0.05 |
| Tape measure | £6.75 | 0.38 |
| Telephone | £19.65 | 0.35 |
| Television* | £259.25 | 6 |
| Torch | £8.30 | 0.16 |
| Timer | £9.59 | 0.18 |
| Tickets/ Passes | 5p per sheet of paper | 0.05 |
| Train/bus timetables | £0 | 0.05 |
| TV remote* | £7.63 | 0.05 |
| Watch | £234 | 0.05 |
| World atlas | £12.61 | 1.4 |
| VR goggles* | £310.50 | 8.5 |
| Total | £3,323.09 | 35.72 |