Internet enabled mobiles to hit 3.8 billion by 2015

By 2015, more than 60 per cent of us will be browsing the web with our mobile devices.

So claims a new report from ABI Research, which suggests that 3.8 million mobiles will have web browsers within the next five years.

The introduction of proxy based browsers, such as Opera Mini, has enabled lower cost processors to surf the web where only high-endsmartphones used to tread, according to senior analyst Mark Beccue.

"These browsers move some caching and processing off the phone to a nearby server, allowing the browser to run on lower-cost processors and requiring as little as 4MB of memory," he said.

"That means these browsers can be used on even the lowest-cost phones."

Also the "full internet" browsers on smartphones are becoming easier to develop thanks to the falling costs of application processors.

Put together, this means more handsets will have internet capabilities as time goes on and, eventually, it will be double the number of handsets with access as it is in 2010, claimed the research.

ABI research predicted the installed base of full internet browsers will exceed the proxy browser market by 2012, however, meaning the smartphones are still going to come out as the dominant choice for handsets in the future.