Phablets were the technology gadget of choice for many
holiday gift-givers. Flurry, a firm that provides mobile advertising solutions
for marketers and monetization solutions for app publishers, reported that the
large-screen smartphones made up 27% of all device activations during the week
leading in to Christmas, up from a 4% share of the market in 2013.
Nearly 50% of all device activations during Christmas
week were of Apple products, with its phablet—the iPhone 6s Plus—accounting for
12% of the total. Samsung’s share of device activations was 19.8%, while Nokia
finished with a 2% share.
The Apple activation share was actually down 2.2% from
2014. Flurry added that more than half of all Android activations were
completed on phablets, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note or those devices popular
in Asian markets. Samsung’s activation share rose 2.1% in 2015.
“This
year, the larger trend Flurry uncovered was what it dubbed the ‘death of small
phones,’” wrote Sarah Perez for TechCrunch. “That is, for the first time in 2015, consumers appear to be opting for
phablets over smaller-screened phones. And phones with a screen smaller than
3.5 inches (e.g. most Blackberry devices) are practically extinct.”
