A new report from Transparency Market Research suggests that over 150 million Android powered ‘phablets’ will be sold by 2018. TMR researched shipments, sales and growth throughout multiple markets to produce the report.
Of course, the report doesn’t explicitly mention what type of device constitutes the ‘phablet’ description, so we’re left to speculate. I’m going to make an educated guess here and add that it includes smartphones in excess of 5 inches.
Phablet sales are expected to see a year-over-year development of 25.8 percent from 2012 to 2018. By 2018, revenue from phablet sales alone is expected to be in excess of $116 billion.
In today’s market North America is in the lead for phablet sales, with Asia Pacific set to be the fastest growing market by the conclusion of 2018.
In 2012, phablets comprised approximately 12 percent of the mobile device market. TMR expects that number to grow to 30 percent by 2018. That’s a pretty lofty expectation, but larger size devices certainly seems to be the new trend. Then again, it’s hard to ignore the consumer market that hates bulky devices. I know you’re out there, don’t worry.
Unsurprisingly, Samsung is the top supplier of phablets globally, with a solid grasp of 70 percent of the mobile phablet market. Even though, the Galaxy Note, which employed a 5.3-inch display, was initially criticized for being too voluminous, Samsung went on to sell more than seven million units in just seven months. Shortly after, the mobile market was flooded with devices in excess of 5 inches.
Yes, you can pretty much blame Samsung for those hulking devices you hate so much. Personally, I don’t mind them, but they still need to equip the smaller size devices properly, which is something they don’t do exceptionally well. In fact, a lot of manufacturers are now ignoring their smaller devices and packing them with mid to low end hardware.
To conclude with the subject of phablet statistics, what do you think of such predictions? Are you against the phablet market seeing such a significant increase or do you appreciate it? Do you think such predictions are incorrect, and if so why?
Source: PRNewswire