Skip to footer

Phablet shipments to hit 120 million by 2018: report

The phablet market is only going to get larger in coming years, Juniper Research says. 

|
Nokia
The Nokia 1320 phablet runs the Windows Phone 8 OS.
  • By Matthew Shaer

In Asia, sales of the phablet – that ungainly hybrid of smartphone and tablet – are already up 600 percent year-over-year. And according to the analytics firm Juniper Research, the popularity of the phablet is only likely to grow further in coming years, not just in one market, but globally. 

In a new report published this week, Juniper Research predicts that 120 million phablets will ship worldwide in 2018, up exponentially from the estimated 20 million phablets shipped in 2013. Although Apple is rumored to be prepping a phablet for release this year, Juniper analysts are confident that the market will be dominated by Android devices and Nokia phablets running Microsoft's Windows OS. 

"As evidenced by the recent entry of new vendors, including Nokia, Alcatel and Intex, the phablet market will likely grow from both ends of the price spectrum with established global brands predicated to focus on higher price points allowing local players to gain a foothold in the lower end," reps for Juniper wrote in a press release. 

Nokia, which is in the process of being swallowed up by Microsoft, recently launched the 1320 Lumia phablet in Asia, Australia, and Europe. The Windows Phone 8-powered device is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 6-inch display, and a pair of cameras – one front-facing, the other back-facing. 

In a review for SlashGear, Chris Davies praised the "sturdy build quality" and long-lasting battery on the device. Still, he wasn't impressed with the cameras nor the Windows interface. 

"Although some groups will find enough to love about the Lumia 1320's screen," Davies concluded, "Microsoft needs to do a little more to refine its OS to deliver on its half of the bargain. That will undoubtedly come in time, but for now we'd be more tempted by one of Nokia's smaller Lumia devices, particularly those with PureView cameras."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Phablet shipments to hit 120 million by 2018: report
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2014/0121/Phablet-shipments-to-hit-120-million-by-2018-report
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe