The new Samsung Galaxy Note II tablet device is pictured during Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 event in Berlin's Tempodrom hall ahead of the start of the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin, August 29, 2012. The IFA consumer electronics and home appliances fair will open its doors to the public from August 31 till September 5 in the German capital. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski
“We expect 2013 to be the Year of the Phablet,” said Neil Mawston, UK-based executive director of Strategy Analytics’ global wireless practice.
While Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has blazed a trail with its once-mocked Galaxy Note devices, now other manufacturers are scurrying to catch up.
At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies will launch their own.
ZTE, which collaborated with Italy’s designer Stefano Giovannoni for the Nubia phablet, is scheduled to launch its 5-inch Grand S, while Huawei brings out the Ascend Mate, sporting a whopping 6.1-inch screen, making it only slightly smaller than Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet.
“Users have realised that a nearly 5-inch screen smartphone isn’t such a cumbersome device,” said Joshua Flood, senior analyst at ABI Research in Britain.
Driving the phablet’s shift to the mainstream is a confluence of trends. Users prefer larger screens because they are consuming more visual content on mobile devices than before, and using them less for voice calls — the phablet’s weak spot.
And as WiFi-only tablets become more popular, so has interest among commuters in devices that combine the best of both, while on the move.
Ericsson Mobility Report says that the monthly data traffic for every smartphone will rise fourfold between now and 2018 to 1,900 megabytes.
The upshot is a market for phablets that will quadruple in value to $135 billion in three years, according to Barclays.
Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to 228 million during the same period.