Most Australians prefer the iPhone, and for the first time overtaking Nokia as the Aussie's first choice in mobile phones.

According to the 2011 Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index, released on Thursday 32 percent of Australians have an Apple phone while 28 percent own a Nokia device. Other mobile phone manufacturers like Samsung have 13 percent of the Australian consumer share, Sony Ericsson is fourth with 5 percent, LG has 4 percent, and Blackberry and Motorola both have 3 percent.

"There has been a clear shift in handset brand ownership in the last few years," the report said.

"Nokia ownership has been steadily decreasing, as has Motorola, while Apple has been consistently increasing in popularity since the impact of the iPhone release."

Almost half of the 2115 survey respondents also own tablets or plan to purchase one within the next year. The report's author, research consultant Dr. Maria Maio Mackay said the survey found that men had the stronger interest in tablet ownership with men making up 60 per cent of tablet owners.

The report also found that consumers were not satisfied with their carrier services. Overall satisfaction with carrier services dropped from 90 per cent last year to 76 per cent this year.

Vodafone was rated the worst carrier, with overall customer satisfaction at 61 per cent, compared with 78 per cent for Telstra, 80 per cent for Optus. Virgin was rated the best carrier at 89 per cent.

"The drop in satisfaction levels may be part explained by factors like carrier mergers and highly publicized carrier network issues," the report said.

The survey was carried out by a number of mobile phone industry groups.