14 DAY TRIAL // You hear it everywhere, people love tablets and, more specifically, they love small tablets (in the 7-inch and 8-inch vein), but how long will this trend go on?
Not for ever, that’s for sure. A new report published by Techanalysis Research claims people’s preferences are shifting and we might witness the downfall of the small tablet as soon as next year.
So which product will be cannibalizing tablet sales in the year to come? Experts believe that phablets, devices with screen sizes between 5.7-inch and 6.4-inch will steal the spotlight in 2014, reports Fudzilla.
A lot of brand vendors have sniffed out the market trend and have full heartedly obliged by putting out models to fit the parameters. For example, Samsung has the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Mega series, while Nokia has launched the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 1320, Sony has launched the Xperia Z Ultra and so on. More will certainly be unveiled in 2014.
And this is not counting the endless plethora of phablets offered by white-box manufacturers all around the world. The new report pointed out that most of the smartphones sold in 2013 were actually handsets sporting a 5-inch screen and above.
For example, in South Korea, 67% of the smartphones sold in 2013 had screens larger than 5 inches. Growth in the phablet market is being pushed by key and developing markets around the world like Brazil, China, Indonesia, Germany, Easter Europe and the UK.
The research also claims that phablet sales are expected to hit 175 million units in 2014, with smaller-framed tablets (7-inch and 8-inch) sales stabilizing at around 165 million. Not such a vast, notable difference, but the gap might widen with time.
Another study we talked about today (by Pew Internet Research) claims that consumers’ focus easily shifts and the year to come might see tablet enthusiasts hail larger-screened tablets and 2-in-1 convertibles, at the disadvantage of smaller slates.