Phablets' Success in Asia Could Lead Apple to Release a Version Next Year

Phablets, which are smartphones with screens between five and seven inches, did better in Asia than notebook PCs and tablets in the recent quarter.

In response to the news, as reported by International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple will likely add a new product, maybe in 2014.

"I think Apple has already realized that they missed on the phablet category," Sameer Singh, a tech analyst, told Computerworld. "[But] I expect a 5-inch-plus Apple phablet to launch some time in 2014. If not, Apple's decline in Asia will accelerate."

“Apple will likely pitch their phablet as a flagship with an unsubsidized starting price of $650, [while] competing vendors offer them at prices as low as $200. Anything less would lead to a revenue loss [by Apple] in subsidized markets," Singh added.

Some 25.2 million phablets were shipped in the recent quarter, IDC said. During the same quarter, 12.6 million tablets and 12.7 million portable PCs were shipped, IDC adds.

"Phablets first started as a trend driven by mature markets like South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore," Melissa Chau of IDC said last week. "What's changed now is the added pick up of phablets in emerging markets like China and India, not just the plethora of big-name vendors competing head-to-head with Samsung, but instead the low-cost local players who have swooped in to offer big screens for less money – averaging a retail price of $220 versus Samsung's $557."

Also, Apple's share of the smartphone market in China is getting smaller, Canalys said. Apple was seventh among China's smartphone vendors, and it had a market share of 5 percent in the recent quarter. That is less than a market share of 8 percent in the prior quarter.

The news comes as Apple was to show off the iPhone 5C this week.

Also, global tablet shipments are now expected to total 227.4 million units during 2013. That is less than 229.3 million, which was the earlier forecast by IDC.

That number for tablets still represents 57.7 percent more than seen shipped during 2012, IDC ads. In 2017, global shipments will be almost 407 million units, IDC predicts.

“Much of the long-term growth will be driven by countries like China where projected growth rates will be consistently higher than the worldwide average,” IDC said in a statement.

"A lower than anticipated second quarter, hampered by a lack of major product announcements, means the second half of the year now becomes even more critical for a tablet market that has traditionally seen its highest shipment volume occur during the holiday season," Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets, at IDC, added. "We expect average selling prices to continue to compress as more mainstream vendors utilize low-cost components to better compete with the whitebox tablet vendors that continue to enjoy widespread traction in the market despite typically offering lower-quality products and poorer customer experiences."

Emerging markets, including the Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan), Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, will increase from the 39.2 percent seen in 2012 to 51 percent to likely be seen in 2017.