Big Phones Gaining Share, Driving Traffic And Larger Conversions

Three recent reports show that larger-screen smartphones (so-called “phablets”) are starting to have a significant impact on the market. They’re growing marketshare, internet traffic and driving higher value conversions vs. their smaller-screen smartphone siblings.

Phablets are defined as smartphones with screens of between 5 and 7 inches.

In the North American market, Chitika reports that Samsung remains king of the phablets but other brands are gaining. Chitika estimates, based on its network data, that 77 percent of phablet-based internet traffic is coming from a range of Samsung devices.

On a global basis according to Netbiscuits phablets have roughly doubled their share of mobile traffic in the last six months. Asia, where the iPhone 6 Plus is selling best, followed by North America and Western Europe are the three leading phablet markets.

Finally, phablets behave more like tablets when it comes to ecommerce according to Monetate. The company said that average US phablet order value in Q3 was $115.86, “far closer to tablets than smartphones at $121.30 and $100,27, respectively.” In addition the larger screens generate higher conversions (6 percent) vs. smartphones.

Over time most smartphones will probably standardize at between 5 and 6 inches, making them much more viable for ecommerce — especially as simpler mobile payments technologies take hold. They also tend to have larger batteries and longer battery lives accordingly.

It’s not entirely clear how phablets will impact smaller tablets (e.g., iPad Mini, Kindle Fire) but the emerging sense is that smaller tablets will be under more pressure as larger numbers of people upgrade to phablets.