Bigger is better: The growing trend for the big screen in your pocket By Naveed Siraj, Country Manager Intel Pakistan
In January 2014, phablets accounted for only 6 percent of used devices globally.However, by the end of that same year, phablet shipments in the Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) region hit 12.6 million– a year on year growth of 225 per cent.
Phablets continue to grow at a staggering pace for 2015, holding 22 per cent of smartphone share in the region– a phenomenal rate.So why has this demand taken off and who is driving it?
In a country like Pakistan where consumers are keen to have competitively priced consumption devices, availability of a plethora of screen sizes is an exciting proposition.
In a recently conducted survey in the United States, screen size was cited as the main reason for buying a particular phone by both iOS and Android buyers at 43 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively.As such, there has been a steady increase in smartphone screen size with each new release of the flagship model from each major smartphone brand over the last few years. All major smartphone manufacturers launched new phablets last year and in the first quarter of 2015, including Apple, Samsung, LG, and Motorola, as well as China’s Xiaomi and Huawei.
Fuelling this demand is the APJ region, where larger-screened smartphones are preferred. The conversion to phablet devices has been the most pronounced in mature APJ markets such as Korea (where phablets now account for 62 per cent of the overall smartphone market), Taiwan (42 per cent), Australia (38 per cent), and Japan (18per cent).
Intel® is at the heart of the innovation happening across APJ. Last year the company committed to investing US$100 million in the Intel Capital China Smart Device Fund, to help accelerate smart device innovation across 2 in 1s, tablets, smartphones, wearables, and IoT. Intel also announced the establishment.
