Size Matters

November 24, 2014
By Communiqué PR staff

Contrary to what some may tell you, size does matter. The proof is published in a joint report released last month by IHS Inc., a global source of critical information and insight, and our client Mobidia Technology Inc., a mobile analytics provider with a mega-panel of global smartphone and tablet users.

The report, “Larger Smartphone Screens Drive Greater User Activity,” is based on an extensive set of data from smartphone users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, South Korea and Japan and analyzes the impact of smartphone screen size and resolution on popular mobile applications usage, including those in the social, chat, gaming and video genres. The research covered more than 25 different smartphone models with screen sizes ranging from 3.5 to 5.7 inches and model ages of one to four years from OEMs including Apple, HTC, Samsung and Sony.

The global research highlights the following trends:

Larger smartphone screen sizes strongly correlate with increased app minutes of usage (see chart below). While the iPhone 6 has a screen of 4.7 inches, the study shows there is a tipping point for screens of around 5 inches.
iPhone mobile app revenue generated per active iPhone is more than four times as much as Android, despite historically smaller iPhone screen sizes than Android flagship competitors. In Q2 2014, 80 percent of smartphone models launched had screens over 4.5 inches, larger than any iPhone then on sale.
Higher resolution screen smartphones have higher data consumption, but resolution is less important than physical screen size as an indicator of higher data use.
Streaming video and social networking apps have a stronger link between increased data consumption and screen size than do chat apps (e.g. WhatsApp, WeChat) or mobile games.

The report should be particularly important to mobile operators and media companies that aim to understand the impact of video delivery on the super high resolution HD screens.

“Analysis of the data clearly shows the positive impact larger screens are having on the industry,” said Chris Hill, senior vice president of marketing at Mobidia. “For instance, users spent significantly more time in streaming video apps like HBO GO, Netflix and YouTube when accessing them from phones with large screens.”

Further evidence that size matters is shown in the below list of articles that have been written about the report since it was released on October 29. For further proof, click here to download the complete report.