A new report released by Flurry Analytics takes a look at screen sizes and form factors in the mobile device market and finds that mid-sized phones, those with screens around the size of the iPhone’s screen, make up the majority of device usage among users. The report deems larger screened phablets as a “fad.”
A new report out from Flurry Analytics on Monday took a look at the proliferation of screen sizes and form factors in the mobile device sector, finding that mid-size phones — phones with screen diagonals between 3.5 and 4.9 inches — make up the majority of device models detected in Flurry’s network. Smaller-screened devices such as BlackBerries made up about 16 percent of device models, while so-called “phablets,” 7 to 8.4-inch tablets, and 8.5-inch and above tablets made up 2, 6, and 7 percent of device models detected, respectively.
Smaller devices accounted for about one-in-six detected phone models, however Flurry’s analysis shows they are only about seven percent of active devices when taking into account users-per-device. Smaller devices only account for about four percent of overall app sessions.
Medium-sized phones — the category where Apple’s entire iPhone line falls — accounted for 72% of active users and 76% of app sessions.
Phablets — phone-tablet hybrids — are considered a fad in the report, as they hold only two percent of the installed device base.
Large-screen devices, the neighborhood of Apple’s iPad, make up only seven percent of the device installed base, yet account for 13 percent of active users, and 13 percent of total app sessions. The report found that tablets are used largely as gaming devices, with users spending about 17 percent of their time playing games. Interestingly, books and video viewing, while considered easier to view on the tablet’s large screen, amount to less than 10 percent combined tablet usage time.
Almost one-quarter of iOS users in the report used a full-size iPad, while 74 percent used some model of the iPhone. Two percent of iOS users were on an iPad mini.
Flurry’s network detects roughly one billion mobile devices in use globally per month.
