Why are phones continuing to get bigger? (Hint: Think post-PC)
It wasn't that long ago when a 4-inch phone was considered big. These days, however, 5-inch handsets are approaching the norm for many and most the latest and greatest pieces of mobile hardware have even larger screens, with some crossing the 6-inch mark.
Context & Ripple Effects
Screen size has been the most contested number in smartphones for two years straight. In October 2011, Dustin Curtis argued 3.5 inches was the ergonomic ceiling for one-handed use — a position Apple effectively held until it stretched to 4 inches with the iPhone 5 in 2012. Meanwhile the Android side kept climbing: the big-screen trend flagged at Mobile World Congress in early 2012 has since pushed 5-inch handsets toward the norm and put flagships over the 6-inch mark.
Gigaom's framing matters because it ties the growth to the post-PC shift: as the phone absorbs computing tasks once reserved for desktops, the screen stops being a compromise and becomes the product. That reframes the 3.5-inch debate from ergonomics versus spec-sheet into a question of what device category the phone now belongs to.
First-order effects
- Apple's 4-inch iPhone 5, launched in 2012 as its answer to bigger screens, now sits below the emerging 5-inch norm — leaving the company exposed on the single most visible hardware spec at retail.
Second-order effects
- Display makers and handset assemblers retool around larger panels, making big screens cheaper per unit and pressuring any holdout brand whose lineup tops out under 5 inches.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the line between large phone and small tablet blurs into a single continuum, and 'screen size' shifts from a fixed ergonomic assumption to a competitive axis brands differentiate along.
The trend: Smartphones are absorbing the PC's role, and each task migration gives makers a reason to grow the display until the old one-handed-use consensus breaks entirely.