Several years following their North American debut, smartphones with five-inch and larger screens, nicknamed phablets, have become decidedly mainstream. Samsung has designed both of its latest flagship Galaxy S devices with screens surpassing the five-inch mark, and Apple released its first phablet-style iPhone earlier this fall. With Samsungs sizable number of offerings in the segment, its no wonder that users of its larger-screened smartphones drive more than 77% of all phablet-based Web traffic within North America. However, current usage statistics point to a competitive marketplace with a variety of brands achieving success with new five-inch and greater phone models.
To quantify the distribution of Web usage among all available phablet models, Chitika Insights sampled tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian smartphone-based online ad impressions running through the Chitika Ad Network. The impressions were then segmented based on phone screen size. The data used to compile current usage share were drawn across the time range of November 6 through 12, 2014.
