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For those that haven’t figured it out yet, phablet is a portmanteau of the words phone and tablet. It started off as a kind of joke word, bounded around to mock Huawei’s larger offerings and to warn consumers that they have no chance of fitting in your jean pocket.
But now the likes of Samsung have honed in on a section of humanity that appears to have giant hands, this once jokey term has become a somewhat serious one.
PCR recently reported that over a third of Brits would rather buy a phablet than a smartphone.
Upon discovering the definition of a phablet as ‘having a screen size between five and seven inches’, I have to wonder: Are people specifically choosing to buy a phablet, or is that just becoming their only option?
In 2013, more than 1 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide. Samsung was the top vendor with 31.3 per cent market share.
So let’s take a look at Samsung’s range of flagship smartphones over the past few years…
Galaxy S3 (5.38-inch display), Galaxy S4 (5.38-inch display) and Galaxy S5 (5.59-inch display).
It appears that any smartphone user wanting to keep up to date with the latest devices will most probably end up buying one that has a screen over five inches in size, technically making it a phablet.
Are these consumers upgrading from their previous Galaxy to the latest one because they actually want a phablet? Or is it because they are invested in the brand, happy with it, and want to have the smooth crossover from their previous phone to the latest and greatest model?
Anyone that has an iPhone will know how tied in you can get. iTunes, the App Store and iCloud are all designed to keep you glued to an iOS device.
As Apple looks to release two new iPhones this year – if the mass of rumours are anything to go by – one of these will certainty be phablet-sized.
In the global vendor rankings, both Huawei and LG follow Samsung and Apple, and have flagships and other models over five inches.
While I have been in the ‘phablets can phuck off’ mindset for some time, the sad truth is that I will probably end up owning one. Not because I desperately want to, but because it may be all that’s on offer.
I better go shopping for some jeans with bigger pockets.
