Large form factor smart phones like the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy Note, and LG G3, have the sales of new tablets down 30% industry wide. This was heard on a conference call when it was said by Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, as reported by the Financial Times. These large phones have huge screens and people decide that with that much screen real estate that they don’t need a tablet anymore.
Makes sense to me.
The smaller tablets like the iPad Mini are taking the worst hit here, since the mega phones aren’t that much smaller when you think about it.
Tablet sales grew only 11% in 2014, according to research firm Gartner, down from 55% growth the year before. Gartner had projected that 229 million tablets were sold in 2014.
The iPad was introduced in 2010. Wow. It seems longer.
Tablets have been around much longer than that, but it wasn’t until they were combined with Apple sexy that they started to sell big and it seems that everyone had to have one. There is something that Apple mixes into their technology that makes a lot of people want to shell out too much money for their stuff.
Maybe they sprinkle magic geeky dust into their plastics or something. Inquiring minds want to know.
I can tell you from experience with the iPhone 6 Plus, that it’s REALLY big. It’s not all screen though. The case is really large. It’s so large that it’s cumbersome and you NEED two hands to use the thing. My wife has one and I have written about it a few times in other posts. I have written about how the iPhone 6 Plus has made me appreciate my Android device even more, and also how these RAM crippled Apple iPhones are just a way for Apple to sell overpriced iCloud services.
It’s true.
Most people don’t know when they’re getting ripped off, and thanks to the magic fairy dust that Apple mixes into their tech, many people willingly hand over too much of their hard earned to Apple, Inc.
Of course it’s not just Apple who is cutting into the tablet business. Many of the Android phones have HUGE screens. My own LG G3 has a screen that seems just as large as that on the Apple iPhone 6 Plus. It’s just that the case is a bit smaller so you can actually (just) use the thing with one hand if you have big hands (I do).
I will say though that the camera on the iPhone 6 Plus is a good one. My wife takes great pictures of our baby with it. It takes better low light pictures than my LG, but this article isn’t about that.
So if phones like the Apple iPhone 6 Plus and the rest of the smart phones out there stay this size, or get even bigger, like the Galaxy Note, then tablets will vanish eventually, or maybe just become a low volume niche product.
Phablets are here to stay and people love them, so I guess it’s all good.
What do you think?
Tell me below.
