Apple users are considered to be "hungry" for mobile data consumption.

Scientists at JDSU's Location Intelligence Business Unit, for the fourth-consecutive year, disclosed mobile data usage trends in a new report showing consumer behavior becoming "more extreme."

"For the past three years we've seen explosive growth in mobile data usage, causing operators to have to wrestle with the challenges their success is creating," said author of the study and JDSU's CTO of Mobility for the Network and Service Enablement business segment Dr. Michael Flanagan.

Apple iPhones have previously won the top spot of utilizing the most mobile data since the study's conception in 2010, notably the iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 5.

For the 2013 study, it was likely the Samsung Galaxy S3 would end the iPhone's streak, but it didn't. With the launch of the iPhone 5s, the Apple smartphone maintained the top position for another year. According to the study, iPhone 5s owners used up to seven times more data as the benchmark iPhone 3G users across developed markets. Among the developed markets, the iPhone 5s data consumption grew by 20 percent compared to the iPhone 5, but it was a 50 percent increase in developing markets.

In addition to the iPhone 5s, five other Apple devices accounted for the top 10 data consumption devices, along with two Samsung products and one by HTC and Sony, respectively.

In developed markets, the fourth-generation iPad ranked second for most data consumption followed by the HTC Sensation. Sony's Xperia SP placed about the iPhone 3G for fourth and fifth place respectively. For developing markets, the third-generation iPad ranked second ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The iPhone 5 placed fourth ahead of its ancestor, iPhone 3G.

Galaxy S4 smartphone owners were found to be producing and uploading five times as much data as the iPhone 3G in developed markets but 11 times as much across developing markets.

"Each new generation of iPhone has resulted in increases in data consumption of between 20-40 percent -- even today when data use is common," added Flanagan. "Though interestingly, users of the more economically-priced iPhone 5c consume data in the range between that of the iPhone 4s and 5 users."

Flannigan noted if mobile carriers provide faster speeds, it will result in consumers taking advantage and wanting more data.

"One would expect a honeymoon period in which early adopters test their toys. But for 4G users to consistently exhibit behavior 10 times more extreme than 3G users well after launch constitutes a seismic shift in the data landscape. This has important ramifications for future network designs," he added.

For tablets, the iPad 4 was the most data-hungry consuming approximately 40 percent more data than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which previously held the top position of "hungriest" tablet.

The iPad mini also lived up to its name as it consumed 20 percent less data than the iPad 2 and iPad 3.

"This report provides new insight on how operators can deal with skyrocketing data use. For example, the fact that 0.1 percent of 4G subscribers consume half of the data may prompt operators to identify extreme users. This, in turn, may make it easier to deploy small cell and Wi-Fi access points to ease network congestion. However, the accuracy of these placements should be of paramount importance to operators due to the limited range of the small cells and Wi-Fi," said Flanagan. "This is likely part of an overall trend towards the 'personal' wireless network. Just as femtocells were placed in homes to satisfy network coverage objectives on a subscriber-by-subscriber basis, small cells and Wi-Fi access points may be placed to satisfy network capacity objectives on a subscriber-by-subscriber basis."

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