It seems phablets are growing in popularity and could start putting additional pressure on the sale of tablets, which are already under pressure from bigger smartphones – which are consistently eroding the tablet market.
This is according to Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, who says: “The latest data points to the fact that phablets are four times more popular in the West this year than last as the Asian trend for big phones continues to spiral.”
In fact, if a user purchased a smartphone in the US this year there’s a one in five chance that he bought a phablet – as the market share for the bigger-sized smartphones has literally erupted.
The latest data from research company Kantar Worldpanel ComTech indicates that phablets – defined here as smartphones with screen sizes 5,5-inch or larger – made up 21% of US smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2015, up from 6% at the same time last year.
The phablet trend has also been championed by eastern markets such as Taiwan and Hong Kong, where screen sizes larger than 5,5-inch formats account for as much as 50% of active users. This is according to data from analytics firm, Flurry.
Giving potentially more impetus to the sale of phablets, all major smartphone manufacturers launched new phablets last year and in the first quarter of 2015. This includes Apple, Samsung and Motorola – as well as China’s Xiaomi and Huawei.
