According to a year in review report from Flurry, “Phablets” (horrible term) are set to become dominant by the end of this year. What that means is more people will be reading news, watching video, listening to music and consuming other types of content on these larger format smartphones than on other media devices, including, eventually, PCs and TVs.
The report discusses app category growth and other trends for 2015. However, the most interesting data in the report pertains to the growth of and time spent with Phablets.
The larger format smartphones appear to drive more consumption and more engagement overall. That makes sense because the larger screen makes for a more versatile device.
The perhaps surprising projection Flurry makes is that by the end of this year, Phabets will be the dominant form factor in the mobile device category. The chart below reflects the distribution of devices in the US. By the middle of this year, small smartphones are gone, and conventional tablets become more marginal.
The marketing implications of Phablet dominance are immediate and obvious. These devices will eventually drive more mobile commerce. In addition, ad-format options are more numerous. I would also speculate that larger devices will boost mobile web usage and mobile search accordingly.
Comments