Ramblings of an old Doc

 

Phones are getting larger and larger screens…it’s clear from usage and service stats provided by Flurry (Yahoo owned data analytics firm) that’s what’s happening and has been for years, when you think about it.

Flurry tracks 1.6 billion devices (yes, ‘b’ as in billion) focusing on the top 875 devices which account for 87% of the sessions in March 2015 to look at global active device usage by screen size and found that phablets have more than tripled their share of usage since last year.

Take a look at the graphic representations of the stats:

True by OS as well:

The iOS figures are based also on the huge demand Apple fans displayed for the iPhone 6 Plus. Relatively, though Android users prefer phablets more than the iOS users.

So, Android will be the driver for phablet usage and iOS for tablets…and not tablets since Android phones with larger screens have been around longer.

This provides some good info for MS if they’re still interested in the phone/phablet market. The Surface 3 and 3 Pro sort of puts MS in the “instead of” laptop market…and the biggest target there will be businesses.

Have a great weekend.

Sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/30/phablets-are-eating-phones-and-tablets/#.0vrhkg:oCxB

Photo credits:

Bar charts from techcrunch. Man with huge phone from the web with free sky background.


Comments
on May 02, 2015

Would be nice to know, what exactly do they consider as small phones, etc... i can only guess that 4inch is the border line between small and medium, while 5inch or 5,5 between medium and phablets...

Regardless, i hope that with next generations of their products Apple will acknowledge the existence of people like me, who are not into big phones and replace their 5S model from their current line-up with some kind of iPhone 7 Mini or whatever they would want to call it. Simply shrinked version of the regular model to the form-factor of 5S, the same way 6 Plus is oversized version of regular 6.

on May 02, 2015

I don't place too much stock in what market research comes up with these days.  One week it's this and that outselling the other, then another week the other is doing so much better.  For mine, sales figures/market research can be smudged to reflect what manufacturers want us to purchase, according to so-called trends. 

And what are market trends anyway?    I just wish that people would stop being sheep and buy what they really want/need, rather than following trends and purchasing goods some marketing firm says is fashionable/the 'in thing'.

 

on May 02, 2015

I like small Android phones, and it's getting harder and harder to find them. 

on May 02, 2015

starkers

And what are market trends anyway? 

What people are buying to use?

Also, people buy all sorts of things...not just what they need. Market trends talk about large numbers of people buying certain things. That has an effect on investors as well as devs, commodities, etc. 

on May 04, 2015

DrJBHL


Quoting starkers,

And what are market trends anyway? 



What people are buying to use?

Also, people buy all sorts of things...not just what they need. Market trends talk about large numbers of people buying certain things. That has an effect on investors as well as devs, commodities, etc. 

For mine, so-called market trends are about what marketing companies WANT us to buy... whether we want or need it or not.  If they make the item so attractive, by saying everybody else has one, and you'd be a mug not to get your own, they appeal to the 'sheep' in the buying public and boost sales by preying on weaknesses rather than fact/actual sales figures.

It's like the salesman in JB Hi-fi when I was enquiring about the Mac Mini as a possible addition to my tech setup.  He tried to convince me that Macs now command 56% and have overtaken PC sales, that Macs are THE in thing with just about everyone these days buying a computer.  Now I don't know if he meant 56% worldwide or just at JB Hi-Fi, but either way it was complete bullshit, in an attempt to boots his commissions with a sale of the 'must have tech of the century'.

Incidentally, my purchase of the Mac Mini was not the result of marketing data, fanboi hype or Apple's assertion they make the best.  No, I'd always been interested in OS-X as an operating system, and because various members here and on other forums gave positive input/feedback, I decided to satisfy my curiosoty in the cheapest way I could... save downloading a pirated copy and installing it on my Intel rig, which is possible these days.  However, that would not have given me a true Mac/OS-X experience and would have defeated the purpose... having Windows and OS-X running side by side on the one desktop.

on May 04, 2015

starkers

so-called market trends are about what marketing companies WANT us to buy... whether we want or need it or not. 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? [whichever is smiling ].

The truth is that it's a mixture of both...and we'll never get it to be any different, will we?

on May 04, 2015

That survey is useless without breaking down what they consider small/medium/large/phablet.  My M8 is 5.0" which is about all the larger I personally want, but I'd hardly call it a phablet.  5.5" eh, pushing it.  6", yeah, I'd call a phablet.  But in my small sample (my IT office of about 90 people), I know of two people with a phone that's 6.0" (Lumia 1520's).  Their numbers indicate a market of 20%.  

That also ignores that just because it's an Android or iOS device doesn't mean it's a phone or phone replacement but there's no mention of those devices (Asus Transformer, iPad, etc) being filtered out.  Those devices aren't replacing phones so if those are included, that's a completely worthless result.

on May 04, 2015

DrJBHL

The truth is that it's a mixture of both...and we'll never get it to be any different, will we?

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean one has to subscribe to it. 

It's like those TV cooking shows, which are glorified ads supporting food manufacturers and supermarkets.  People say they're good because they give you ideas on what to cook.  Bullshit!!!!   If you want recipe ideas you turn to a recipe book on the desired course[s], bei it entree, main or dessert, and you purchase the necessary ingredients from the store of choice.  I mean, how hard is that?

Same with those TV shows for home builders/renovators.  Again, they're just glorified ads for harware companies, put bon purely to inspire people to spend their money.  Why do they do this?  Because people are generally sick to the back teeth of advertising... so the marketing execs come with a way to disguise the ads by dressing them up and using a psycholigical approach to suck punters in.

But not for this little black duck.  I refuse to watch such things and do my own research, etc,  using my own methods.

As for the 'phablet'?  I have a phone that has a big enough screem and does all I need it to do, so I will not be following the market hype regarding oversized phones that require weight lifting exercises in order to hold it to one's ear.