The UK has reached its mobile web tipping point, as for the first time more Brits consider their smartphones their most important device for going online, according to UK telecom regulator Ofcom. According to Ofcom’s 2015 Communications Market Report, smartphones are the primary online device for 33 percent of UK consumers, while only 30 percent get online more with their laptops.

These numbers are particularly striking when balanced against a couple of other numbers in the report. The 2014 report showed that 22 percent considered their smartphones to be their main web access point, compared to 40 percent for laptops. The dramatic rise in smartphone-first web use brings it to half of the 66 percent who own smartphones, indicating huge remaining potential for further mobile web growth.

An April report from Pew Research showed that 64 percent of Americans own smartphones, and 19 percent are at least somewhat dependent on them for internet access. Presumably, others who have web access options still reach for their smartphone first, so the mobile first numbers in the UK and US are probably similar.

The findings in the Ofcom report also provide the first example of a mobile shift predicted by Gartner, which said in December 2014 that mobile devices would be the most commonly used tool for online tasks worldwide by 2018.

The number of 4G subscriptions in the UK is rising, from 2.7 in 2014 to an expected 23.6 million by the end of the year, a change Ofcom says is driving the mobile web surge. 4G users also use more services, and therefore generate more revenue, than other smartphone users, who use their devices for communication purposes 72 percent of the time.

While UK consumers spend more time watching television (3 hours and 40 minutes on average) than on their mobile devices (1 hour 54 minutes), television numbers declined for the second straight year. Netflix launched in Briton in 2012, and it and Amazon Prime are now streamed into a combined 5.6 million households. Laptop/PC use is down to 1 hour and 9 minutes per person.

Facebook’s Internet.org is attempting to bring the internet to people in developing markets through smartphones, and last week invited mobile operators to partner with it in the attempt. Gartner also recently found that as mobile connections get faster, huge mobile video growth will present an opportunity for service providers.