Kantar: phablets made up 21% of US smartphone sales in Q1, up from 6% a year ago, driven by iPhone 6 Plus sales
US phablet market soars — Phablets claimed 21% of all US smartphone sales in Q1 2015 - nearly quadrupling their 6% share from the first quarter of 2014 …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the payoff quarter for a story Kantar has been tracking since January, when it credited the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with lifting Apple's smartphone share across nearly all markets. The new data shows the 6 Plus did more than win Apple customers — it created a US size class, taking phablets from 6% to 21% of sales in four quarters.
What was an Apple-driven spike is on its way to becoming the market's center of gravity: within two years IDC would project phablets overtaking regular smartphone shipments globally, with growth concentrated outside the US.
First-order effects
- Apple owns the first wave of mainstream big-screen demand via the iPhone 6 Plus, converting buyers who previously had no iOS phablet option at all.
- Samsung enters Q2 with the one portfolio already built around large screens, so the category shift plays to its existing lineup rather than forcing a redesign.
Second-order effects
- Android's subsequent US share gains — first on the Galaxy S6, then when the Galaxy S7 outsold the iPhone 6s in spring 2016 — show Samsung competing inside the size class Apple opened rather than ceding it.
- Every major vendor now needs a flagship-plus offering, pushing component orders toward larger displays and bigger batteries and squeezing mid-tier models built around smaller screens.
Third-order effects
- If the trajectory holds, 'phablet' stops being a segment and becomes the default phone: IDC's forecast of phablets overtaking regular smartphones implies the standard handset is the shrinking niche.
- Screen size ceases to be a differentiator between iOS and Android, shifting competition onto ecosystem, camera, and price — the pattern behind Kantar's later US share swings between Apple and Samsung.
The trend: Smartphone form factors are consolidating around the large screen, turning the phablet from a premium niche Apple unlocked into the industry's baseline design.