The iPhone is officially the greatest gadget of the last EIGHTY years, according to a nationwide study.

Researchers polled Britons of all generations and asked them to vote the inventions (big and small) that they could not have lived without, with the iPhone – created by Apple and English designer Jonathan Ive, proving the most popular for both young and old, according to 56 percent of the nation.

Second in the definitive list came the Microwave (53 percent), built by Percy Spencer using radar technology from WWII in 1946 – which became hugely popular in the 1980s when the microwave sparked a convenience, ready meal revolution.

The colour TV emerged as third in the list (52 percent), with BBC2 broadcasting its first colour pictures from the Wimbledon tennis championships – presented by David Vine in 1967.

By mid-1968, nearly every BBC2 programme was in colour however it wasn’t until 1976 that colour TVs outnumbered their black and white rivals due to the high price of the early colour sets.

The refrigerator, which first became popular in the late 50s and changed the way we shopped as a nation, came fourth (50 percent) and the washing machine came fifth (48 percent)

The research of 2,000 Britons was conducted by Currys PC World to mark 80 years since Charles Kalms opened the first ever Dixons store in Southend on Sea, Essex in October 1937.

Technology historian Seren Evans Charrington who was involved in the research, said: ‘As technology is constantly developing to benefit our daily lifestyle, it’s interesting to look back over the years and see how products have evolved and what has stuck around through the decades.

’80 years ago, cameras were items you would buy specifically to capture your memories, then you’d have to wait weeks for your local chemist to develop the film 20 years later and this was revolutionised by Polaroid cameras.

‘No fast forward to today and the majority of us simply get out our phone to take a quick snap.’

Source: Yahoo Technology News, OCT 2017