4S uses to Siri: Define "data hog"

iPhone 4S owners are most likely to consume boatloads of data, a new study from mobile network management company Arieso has found.

According to the company, iPhone 4S owners use twice as much data as iPhone 4 users and three times as much data as iPhone 3G owners. In the company's 2010 study, the iPhone 4 was the top data user.

How did the iPhone 4S take the crown, you ask? Simple, says Arieso chief technology officer Michael Flanagan in an interview published today by Bloomberg: Siri.

Apple's virtual personal assistant, which lets users find content from the Web, schedule appointments, and handle other tasks with only their voice, has been a welcome addition for folks trying to do more with their smartphones, but has also proven troublesome on the data front because of its regular connections with Apple servers and the Web. In addition, Flanagan said that the iPhone 4S regularly connects with Apple servers to sync content, making it more likely to use data.

The implications of that data usage is huge for both consumers and carriers. Consumers have been forced into tiered data plans by many carriers, including AT&T and Verizon, limiting how much content they can consume each month. If they exceed their data limits, consumers are often hit with hefty fees just to get more data.