All hail the phablet! Jumbo phones finally going mainstream While there were only a handful of phablets at the Consumer Electronics Show, they're poised to have a more substantial presence in the market this year.

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The ZTE Iconic Phablet will be heading to the US eventually.

(Credit:
Lynn La/CNET)

LAS VEGAS -- It seemed like only yesterday that we mocked the idea of holding up a 5-inch smartphone to your ear for a call.

Now, we're not even batting an eye at 6- and 7-inch displays on smartphones.

Such is the quick ascent of the "phablet," the official name for jumbo
phones that lie between a traditional smartphone and the larger
tablet.
Phablets are no longer a niche product: Accenture found in a recent
survey that more than half of people who were asked about their next
smartphone said they would prefer the bigger phone.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show here, three phablets popped up: the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G, the Asus ZenFone 6, and the ZTE Iconic Phablet.

In a show where phones often take a backseat to other consumer
electronic products such as televisions, speakers, and now wearables,
having three of the higher-profile mobile devices be phablets says a lot
for how the category has grown, and the increasing tolerance for larger
sizes.

"With television and movies, a larger screen size seems more
appropriate," John Curran, a consultant at Accenture, said while at CES.


Accenture, which surveyed 6,000 people from six countries, found 52
percent of respondents preferred a phablet for their next smartphone. In
the US, where phablet adoption has been slower, the number drops to 45
percent. It's a lower number, but fairly significant.

Curran said he was surprised by the response to phablets, and named it
as one of his six top categories for early this year. He added his
survey didn't even ask about phablets last year, a testament to the
quick rise in the popularity of the category.

Credit Samsung Electronics for getting phablets into the mainstream. The original Galaxy Note,
which had a 5.3-inch display, was widely slammed for its large size,
and ended up as a niche product. But Samsung aggressively pushed the
product, readily handing out review units and marketing it heavily, and
only doubled down with the Galaxy Note 2 and a larger 5.55-inch display.

With the
Galaxy Note
2, Samsung got even more aggressive in seeding the units to the media
and high-profile fans, throwing a number of lavish launch events,
including one in Manhattan in which it rented out the old Post Office
headquarters so Kanye West could hold a concert.

When the Galaxy Note 3
came out with an even bigger 5.7-inch display, no one even batted an
eye, with CNET editor Brian Bennett calling it the most compelling case
for a supersize phone.

The three smartphones announced at CES are all even bigger, with the
ZenFone 6 rocking a 6-inch display, the Ascend Mate 2 4G coming with a
6.1-inch display, and the Iconic Phablet with a 5.7-inch display. Of the
three, only the Iconic Phablet is coming to the US, although it's
unclear whether it will be through a carrier or unlocked.

These devices follow high-profile launches from late last year, including the HTC One Max and Nokia Lumia 1520. LG's curved G Flex, which has a 6-inch display, will launch on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile later this year.

More jumbo phones are likely on their way, with Mobile World Congress
kicking off at the end of next month, and increasing chatter that Apple
is considering different larger screen sizes for its next iPhone.

The phablet trend doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon, and indeed, looks to be ramping up.

Pretty soon, we're all going to have a massive phone mashed up against the side of our head. And it will be the new normal.