Smartphone users in emerging markets want bigger screens

With the latest rumors swirling that Apple’s iPhone 6 will feature a much larger touchscreen, it is quite evident that smartphone is increasingly becoming a hub for entertainment and video content. Here at Atmel, we have been on the forefront of the touchscreen revolution and believe the future lies within the handheld touchscreen.

A new report from reputed market research firm Jana suggests that consumers in emerging markets are now also seeking out larger screens on their smartphones. The survey, which targeted 1,300 smartphone users in countries such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Mexico, found people craving mobile devices with 5-inch and 5.5-inch screens. The 4-inch screen of the current iPhone and other similar devices did not garner much global favor, though some that were surveyed believed that smaller screen provided more convenience.

“While the four to five inch screen segment is not considered desirable by most of our respondents, four-inch screens are still popular,” Jana wrote on its blog.

These findings come just weeks after Business Insider’s latest study, which revealed that phablets — defined as a smartphone with a screen between 5-inches and 7-inches — will surpass 1.5 billion shipments within the next five years. By 2019, the devices will soon account for 59% of total global smartphone shipments, up from an expected 35% in 2014. As a result, it is believed phablets will outnumber tablet sales three to one over the next five years. 

What factors are motivating this interest for larger phones? In many of these emerging markets, the handheld device often times serves as an all-in-one entertainment system. From watching videos and surfing the Internet to glancing at photos and playing games, a larger screen makes all of these activities more enjoyable. Others added that slow buffering speeds and weak connections hindered their efforts, but they still sought out video content on their smartphones. 

Bits & Pieces has previously explored what makes a consumer select a specific device, but these new statistics from Juno provide a clear motivation for manufacturers to produce larger screens. Customers expect to consume video content on their handhelds and larger touchscreens can enhance that experience. As the entertainment landscape becomes increasingly digitized, there is no doubt more and more individuals will continue to thirst for interactive content on their smart devices.

Ahead of the curve, Atmel recently expanded its popular maXTouch T lineup of touchscreen controllers with the mXT640T, mXT336T and mXT224T. The new devices offer a comprehensive set of features, supporting next-gen mobile devices such as smartphones, phablets and mid-size tablets with touchscreens ranging from 3.2”-8.3.” With 640 nodes, the mXT64xT series of devices are the world’s most comprehensive capacitive touchscreen controllers designed for next-generation smartphones.

Phablet shipments will hit 1.5 billion in 2019

Writing for Business Insider, Tony Danova notes that the phablets — defined as a smartphone with a screen between 5-inches and 7-inches — will surpass 1.5 billion shipments by 2019. With that, the devices will soon account for 59% of total global smartphone shipments, up from an expected 35% in 2014. As a result, it is believed phablets will outnumber tablet sales three to one over the next five years.

According to a new report from BI Intelligence, the market has been migrating towards phablets over the past few quarters, and that shift is expected to continue as phablets become the go-to smartphone form factor. “While this is a broad definition,” Danova notes, the advantage is that it captures one of the most important trends in the smartphone market in the last couple of years — the phenomenal popularity of devices such as the Samsung Galaxy line.

As the emerging trend continues to favor larger device screens, phablets are expected to remain the fastest-growig smartphone category through 2019, growing at a CAGR of 27%, nearly double the 15% compound rate for the smartphone market over the same period. Phablets have also accelerated the trend of consumer time spent on visually-oriented social media and messaging apps, with the report revealing that more than half of activity on phablets is tied to social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Cognizant of this trend, Atmel recently expanded its popular maXTouch T lineup of touchscreen controllers with the mXT640T, mXT336T and mXT224T. The new devices offer a comprehensive set of features, supporting next-gen mobile devices such as smartphones, phablets and mid-size tablets with touchscreens ranging from 3.2”-8.3.” With 640 nodes, the mXT64xT series of devices are the world’s most comprehensive capacitive touchscreen controllers designed for next-generation smartphones. The mXT640T supports screen sizes up to 6.2″ with a 1.0 mm passive stylus, up to 5.0 mm thick multi-finger glove sensing, and superior moisture touch performance, while also supports up to 7″ for Windows® 8 compliant devices, and up to 8″ for Android smartphones, phablets and tablets.

“The new T Series enables superior touch performance with single-layer sensors as compared to the most recently announced solutions. Simply put, the latest devices will enable Atmel to extend its industry leadership in the large-screen market to the smartphone and phablet spaces,” an Atmel engineering rep recently explained.