If you are going to choose a smartphone over a tablet when you hit a digital store next time, give a second thought to your decision. According to a new study, smartphones use more of the mobile data than tablets and phablets.

Arieso, conducted a study on 125 devices and observed the mobile data usage of the devices in download and upload categories.

During the study, analysts found that new smartphones in the market 'eat' more mobile data than tablets. Among the top 10 'data-hungry' devices, six are smartphones, three are tablets, and one is a phablet.

"This is pretty counterintuitive, but it seems the capabilities of the newest smartphones - not tablets - are unleashing even greater user demand. Once you move away from raw consumption statistics, the most remarkable finding is the way in which people use smartphones and tablets," said study author and Arieso CTO, Dr. Michael Flanagan.

"Regardless of device type and operating system, there is very little variation in the usage 'signature' between smartphone users and between tablet users. From this we discover that voice-capable 'phablets' - like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - are currently being used like smartphones, not tablets. If you can use it to make a phone call, the 'phablet' won't be much like a tablet at all," he added.

As Apple products always lead the market, they are leading the list of the data hogging devices also.

Among the devices studied, users of Apple's latest product, iPhone 5, are the most voracious data consumers.

According to the study, iPhone 5 users download four times as much data as iPhone 3G users and 50 per cent more than iPhone 4S users. The iPhone 4S was the most data demanding device in the 2012 study.

When it comes to upload category, Samsung Galaxy S3 tops the list. The Galaxsy S3 users generate nearly four times the amount of data than iPhone 3G users, beating iPhone 5 users into third place on uplink data usage behind the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

In the rapidly growing tablet market, Samsung Tab 2 10.1 users have asserted their dominance - demanding 20 per cent more data than iPad users.

Tablet users stood fourth, eighth, and ninth in the list.