Everyone knows just how tremendously popular the iPhone has become, and no doubt many have the iPhone on their Christmas wish list. However according to an article over on sky news, the popularity of the iPhone just might cause the United Kingdom’s 3G network to crash.

The main problem is 3G smartphones like the iPhone and mobile broadband dongles eat away at 3G data at a rapid rate, and watching a video on YouTube can use the same capacity as sending off 500,000 text messages all at the same time.

3G capacity isn’t a limitless thing, and according to Dr. Mark Heath, a tech consultant, the UK’s demand for mobile data could well see an increase of 20 fold by the year 2014.

Apparently operators are worried and urgently need to look at new ways of meeting 3G hungry demand, but Heath believes that even with extra spectrum and new tech there are still big problems ahead.