Larger Five-inch Display Will Become the Preferred Smartphone Size

It seems that people just cannot decide if small, unobtrusive or larger than life is the way to go. Back in the late 1990s I saw a cellphone that was the size of a matchbox. I believe that it was sometime in 2011 that Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note, which has been credited as creating the word phablet. This is a mobile device designed to combine the form of a smartphone and a tablet. Phablets have screens that measure diagonally 5.3–6.99 inches.

While a screen size that is almost seven inches may be convenient for viewing, it makes the device a little difficult to carry around. Last year I watched two different people using Samsung phablets and I noticed a couple of things. One of the people carried it in his back pocket with about a third of it exposed. The other thing I noticed is that both of these people had small hands and holding the device required using both hands.

As I continue to grow older I do find that my 4.7 inch screen size does not offer me the best viewing option. The Mobile Device UX group at Strategy Analytics recently conducted a study on touchscreen smartphone display sizes. According to the study conducted in both the U.S. and the U.K. it seems that the preference for display size is between 5.0 and 5.5 inches.

I have to admit that I fall into this category. Having seen a few smartphones with larger than five-inch screens verifies that I will be getting one soon. The report shows that, last year, about 23 percent of the respondents decided that a five-inch display would be right for them. A screen size of 5.3 inches was preferred by about 16 percent of the respondents. Also agreeing with my way of thinking, device of six inches or larger and 4.5 inches or smaller were least preferred overall.

Paul Brown, who is the director, Mobile Device UX, made the following comments, "As in previous findings, the majority of respondents chose a prototype with a larger display than their current phone as their most preferred size prototype. Respondents were most likely to be interested in a device that had a display that was no more than 1.5 inches larger than their current smartphone. However, when thickness of a device was considered, respondents initially showed overall preference for the thinner prototype (6mm rather than 8mm). Yet when told that the thicker device could provide a third more battery life, the majority of respondents instead opted for the thicker prototype. What is clear is that respondents prioritize battery life over a thin design. Crucially however, this does not mean that manufacturers can make very thick devices in order to provide much larger batteries."

We live in a world that demands being connected all the time. Regardless of location, such as cafe, bar or a friend’s apartment, everyone seems to know where all of the outlets are located. That is because they have to constantly plug their devices in. It makes sense that these same people would be willing to put up with a slightly thicker device in order to gain as much as a third more battery life.

Thanks to areas such as wearable technology, we see that scientists and engineers are working to create smaller batteries with twice the power. Once this technology becomes readily available, perhaps the smartphone’s thickness will be taken out of the equation. Until such time, I’m willing to put up with a slightly larger smartphone than my current device.