'Phablets', smartphones with screen size of 5 inches or larger have been popular in the mobile devices market for last few years. [Photo by Park Sae-jin]
Tablets or tablet PC had been the hot item among mobile devices. Smart devices such as Apple’s iPad, Google’s Nexus 7, and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab series dominated consumer market. But now, with large screen smartphones such as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5, “Phablet” usage is eating up tablets’ share.
According to a report from Adobe Digital Index (ADI), the shape of online traffic appears to be changing. The top seven countries in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) all saw at least 11 percent growth year over year in mobile traffic. But tablet traffic had decreased. ADI reported that in the UK had seen 1.9 percent decrease in tablet traffic while Saudi Arabia saw the largest decline by 25 percent.
Experts of the industry see the current situation is the result of smartphones’ screen getting larger. Before large screen smartphones were in the market, users used to own two devices, a smartphone and a tablet. Smartphone were used on the go, for mobile accesses but were not suited for reading or other app-related activities due to its smaller screen size (an average of 4.5 inches). Tablet usage was more stationary. Its larger screens were better suited for ebook reading and enjoying video contents. There was a definite boundary separating usage of smartphones and tablets.
But the game changed when larger screen smartphones, so-called phablets were out on the market. Users with smartphones with screens larger than 5 inches felt no need for larger screens, which resulted in tablet usage shrinking
“There was a time when tablet browsing surpassed smartphone browsing, and that trajectory was expected to continue,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal at ADI. “Since then, however, browsing growth by these devices has decreased significantly, and we think this is mainly because smartphone screens are getting bigger. Now, instead of buying both a smartphone and a tablet, people are opting for ‘phablets’ and relying on just this one device—with a larger screen—for all of their browsing.”
ADI analyzed that in 14 of the 17 countries in EMEA, mobile usage grew by at least 30 percent during the course of 2015.
아주경제 박세진 기자 = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com