The rising threat of smartphone theft: Consumer behaviour and security challenges
Date: 28th mai 2025
Smartphone theft is on the rise, and we’re here to break down why this is happening and the consequences for everyday users.
A year after launching Nuke From Orbit’s inaugural research report into evolving smartphone usage and the growing threat to consumers, our second research report goes deeper and goes harder. We’ve updated the research to understand how both usage and the threat landscape have evolved.
In addition to a side-by-side comparison between up-to-date data and data from August 2023, the research was expanded to ask a greater range of questions. This provides us with a more holistic understanding of the challenges facing smartphone users and their expectations around a service that supports device blocking.
These are some of the hot takes:
29% of UK consumers have experienced smartphone theft in the past, compared to 17% in 2023
Consumers are most worried about unauthorised access to bank cards and bank accounts (both 67%)
More consumers are using password managers today (43% vs 38%) compared to 2023