Phablets Are Coming on Strong

More consumers were unwrapping new “phablet” devices this holiday season, according to a report out this afternoon from Flurry. The big-screened form factor, whose name is a mashup of “phone” and “tablet,” accounted for 27 percent of a new device activations in the week leading up to Christmas – a doubling of its share from the year prior, and up from just 4 percent in 2013.

Apple’s current “phablet” – the iPhone 6s Plus – had a big impact on these figures, Flurry also notes, accounting for 12 percent of all Apple devices activated during Christmas week.

The data for this year-end report come from Flurry’s analytics platform, and is based on the 780,000 apps it tracks across a range of devices. Because so many consumers receive new phones and tablets during the holiday season, taking a snapshot of this data can point to trends in terms of which devices and form factors are growing in popularity, as well as which manufacturers are growing or losing market share.