The future is fuelled by phablets, IDC predicts

Phablets are smartphones with screen sizes from 5.5 to less than 7 inches. IDC forecasts that 175 million of them will be shipped worldwide this year, passing the 170 million portable PCs expected to ship during the same period. Next year, total phablet volumes will top 318 million units, surpassing the expected 233 million tablets.

While phablets are a relatively new category of device, first picking up volume in 2012, the pressure that the category has placed on the tablet market has already been clearly observed as the growth of smaller, 7-inch tablets has begun to slow. 

IDC expects more consumers to shift back towards larger tablets with their next purchase. However, that trend hasn’t made up for the decreased shipments of smaller sizes, which has resulted in lower overall expectations for the tablet market this year and beyond.

Melissa Chau, senior research manager at IDC, said the corporation expected phablets to grow from 14 per cent of the worldwide smartphone market this year to 32.2 per cent by 2018.

As the market for smart connected devices matures, and emerging markets drive more of the growth, the proportion of the market made up of phablets plus regular smartphones is expected to increase. 

This year IDC expects smartphones to represent about 70 per cent of the total market. By 2018, that will grow to 75.6 per cent. While consumers in such places as the United States and Western Europe are likely to own a combination of PCs, tablets and smartphones, in many places the smartphone, regardless of size, will be the one connected device of choice. 

Dropping average selling prices for phablets and smartphones will help drive this trend. Last year, a phablet cost an average of US$568 versus a regular smartphone at $320, while IDC forecasts that in 2014, those prices will drop to $397 and $291 respectively.

Tom Mainelli, IDC’s programme vice president for devices and displays, said that clearly, mobile computing was a space where consumers were still trying to figure out what mix of devices and screen sizes suit them best.

“What works well today could very well shift tomorrow as phones gain larger screens, tablets become more powerful replacements for PCs, and even smart watch screens join the fray,” he said.