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Video viewing drives phablet sales

March 16, 2016

Enhanced media and productivity drive phablet owners to buy devices with larger screens.  Findings in a report from the Mobile Device UX (MDX) group at Strategy Analytics showed that the main drivers of purchasing phablet sized devices (5.5”+) are text visibility, viewing media (especially video), web browsing and productivity.

However, consumers find that there are some inconveniences that come with the larger size of a phablet.  While there are benefits of large screen devices, there are improvements that can be made to the user interface and keyboard to improve the user’s experience.

Monica Wong, report author and Analyst commented, “Phablet owners purchase their devices because they want to have a larger screen for several reasons: for consuming multimedia content; for a better web browsing experience; for a better ability to see text; and also because a larger device has a larger battery. Phablets are also purchased as they provide a larger display for productivity on the go.”

Continued Wong, “However, having a large screen device also has some drawbacks.  Phablets can be hard to carry around and are harder to use one handed.”

Paul Brown, Director Mobile Device UX, added, “Data from AppOptix, our consumer telemetry platform, shows that phablet owners use their device for almost a third longer than non-phablet owners per day.  However phablets and especially super phablets are likely to only appeal to a certain segment of the market who will accept the trade-off and inconveniences of a larger device due to the advantages that they bring. ”

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Equipment, Mobile, OTT, Portable Media, Research