With the announcement of 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus yesterday, Apple is officially jumping on the bandwagon of “phablets”—phones with big, tablet-like screen—after years of resistance. Why the change? Because the tide has changed and phablets have gained considerable momentum in popularity, as the following infographics from Flurry illustrate.
Android phone-makers such as Samsung and HTC have led the movement towards bigger screens. There is little doubt that the phablets’ 11% annual increase among all Android devices signals growing consumer demand for larger phones.
Furthermore, in the past year the phablets have almost quadrupled their share of app sessions, an indicator of actual device usage that are crucial to app developers and mobile marketers.
Looking deeper into the behavior data of the phablet users reveals that they are more likely to fall into the affluent and influential demo that brands covet. Now with Apple finally on board, we can only expect this trend to continue.