Phablets Really Are The Future Of Smartphones

When cellular phones were first invented, they were big, awkward things. But through the years, phone makers found a way to make them smaller, cuter, and even more durable (here’s looking at you, Nokia). And then ever since Apple introduced the first iPhone device, handsets had gone big again around a decade ago. But it was in recent years that big sized smartphones, or phablets, really took off with the masses.

Smartphone devices, especially those with a generously sized touch screen, became so popular in the last few years because, quite simply, mobile users can not get enough out of tapping and swiping. Of course, the presence of mobile apps have contributed immensely in all that touch screen fun -- social media apps have effectively glued our fingers to displays all the time, while today’s mobile games have offered plenty of reason for us to exercise our fingertips, while Instagram and Tinder have practically allowed us to master the upward or sideways swipe.

And it does not end there -- one big reason why phablets are so in these days is because we can not stop consuming media on mobile. Not only do we socialize a lot on our smartphones, but also watch tons of movies, TV series, animated GIFs and YouTube clips, and play loads of mobile games and engage in dozens of apps.

It is no surprise then that analysts fully expect phablets to continue selling through the end of the decade. According to market research firm IDC, shipments of phablet devices (handsets with displays of 5.5 inches to 6 inches big) will grow from an estimated 558.7 million units this year to 749.3 million units by the year 2021. As for smaller devices, IDC projects that the shipments of non-phablet smartphones will number 314.2 million units across the globe this year, and then decrease significantly to 223.3 million units four years from now. 

Interestingly, IDC has offered projections even for the super-phablets (those with screens bigger than 6 inches). The firm believes that this year, shipments of ultra big phones will reach 32 million units in 2017, and then increase to 37.4 million units by 2021. But everybody knows that 6 inch display screens will even be more challenging to handle than most of today’s phablets. While the increase in demand is good news, phone makers might not bet that big on super big phones, and may go for the standard phablet sizes, which will likely remain popular in the years to come.