Phablets – The Next Million Dollar Market

Phablet is a word used to describe a device which is half-smartphone and half-tablet and has a screen size more than 5.5 inches. It is a revolutionary devices which is grabbing the attention of users. According to the analysts at Juniper Research, last year about 20 million phablets were shipped around the world and this figure is likely to rise by 100 million units over the next four years i.e. by 2018, manufacturers will be shipping 120 million phablets per year.

With this popularity, most of the companies like Samsung, LG, Nokia, BlackBerry and Huawei etc. are moving towards the manufacturing of 6 inches phones or phablets to get the attention of the users. In this Apple is still the exceptional one; however with the rumors bulging out for iPhone 6 it indicates that the screen size may vary from 4.7 to 5.7 inches which is much bigger than the size of the current iPhones i.e. 4 inches and so.

If we look at the popularity, a survey conducted by Accenture showed (conducted on 6,000 people from six countries), that 52% of respondents preferred a phablet for their next smartphone. In the US, where phablet adoption has been slower, the number drops to 45%. It is a lower number, but fairly significant which can be ignored.

This trend was started by Samsung when they came with their innovative and big phones like Galaxy Note which got a display of 5.3 inches. Later Samsung aggressively pushed their bar to little higher screen size and came up with Galaxy Note 2 with 5.5 inches, Note 2 got more number of fans and user acceptance. Now with Note 3, they came out with an even bigger 5.7-inch display, no one even batted an eye with this phablet.

Phablet is more popular in the East Asia, where consumers like to use their devices more for video streaming and for gaming purposes. Under the category of big phones or phablets, the following devices follow the high profile launches from late last year including Nokia Lumia 1520, HTC One Max and LG curved G flex which has a display of 6 inches. Where such big jumbo phones are making such an impact over the market, the following 5 phablets are making a huge impact on the consumers –

5. Nokia Lumia 1520: Where Nokia is still fighting for the position and came up with a pretty good phone called Lumia 1520 with great built-in camera and good looking screen, this Windows phone is still lacking in some of the departments.

4. HTC One Max: If you are looking for a big phone (we mean really big here), then you could do a lot with this phone.

3. Sony Xperia Z ultra: This phone offers you a nice camera and a huge screen size but there are some glitches when it comes to running applications over the bravia engine and it doesn't fits into good value for money even.

2. LG G2: LG made a huge impact over the mobile industry with their G2 mobile in fact, it was considered the best phone for the year 2013. It is the best combination between value for money and technology and got impressive features and specifications. The only can it got is it doesn’t come with a microSD card slot.

1. Samsung Note 3: Galaxy Note 3 is a high-quality portable device, offering the best performance we've ever seen, a stunning screen and nice build quality. But it also got problems like battery life and camera is not very impressive.

Nevertheless, it won’t be strange to see in coming years people are roaming with huge phones or phablets in their pockets. The gadgets or wearable technologies will make life and operations easier and simpler. These phablets are the real game changers in the coming future and it would be really interesting to see how it captures the market even more.

Omnie Solutions is a web application development company with expertise in mobile application development.