Is "phablet" a necessary word anymore?

Publish date: 2024-05-27
Sony announced its 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra in June 2013, calling it “the world's slimmest Full HD smartphone” that was setting “a new standard for others to follow.” There was no mention of the term phablet whatsoever during the announcement. The same thing happened with pretty much all other huge handsets introduced after that. Lumia 1520? In Nokia’s own words, this is a “large screen Lumia smartphone.” HTC One max? Why, that’s just a “super-sized smartphone.” Galaxy Note 3? Samsung never called it a phablet. LG G Pro 2? That’s still a smartphone in LG’s view.

Apple is currently the only important smartphone maker that doesn’t offer large-screened handsets. Rumors have it that it will do it later this year, though, as the company allegedly readies new 4.7-inch and a 5.5 inch iPhone models. But we’re pretty sure that Apple won’t use the term phablet when describing the latter device, despite the fact that we're already calling it just that. 

So,

Is a product what its maker declares it is, or what consumers say it is?

you see, manufacturers don’t seem to appreciate the word phablet. And it’s unlikely that they will adopt it from now on. Granted, we’re using this word quite often here, and most tech-oriented websites do, too. There is nothing wrong with that. However, if manufacturers aren’t calling their products phablets, perhaps we shouldn’t do it, either. This actually leads us to a rather philosophical question: are things what their maker declares they are, or what the rest of the world believes and says that they are? Of course, a device won’t magically transform into something else if you’re not calling it what it’s supposed to be called. Its very essence remains unchanged regardless of the name it may carry. Still, at the moment, any handset that has a screen of 5 to 6 inches is, by default, called a smartphone - at least by its maker. LG G2, Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2, and the examples could go on and on - all these would’ve been classified as phablets in 2011 / 2012. But not in 2014. What’s more, we now have mini smartphones that sport 4.7-inch screens (see the LG G2 mini). Needles to say, a 4.7-inch handset was viewed as being huge, almost tablet-like a few years ago.

Size comparison between some devices that were announced as smartphones.


In the light of all the above thoughts and facts, do you think that there is still need for the word phablet? Or are phone, smartphone and tablet the only meaningful terms that we need to categorize the multitude of mobile devices around us? (Forget smartwatches and wearables, these belong to another discussion). You can not only vote in the poll below, but also weigh in in the comments section. Chances are that you'll be doing that from the comfort of your very own extra-large smartphone. Or is that a phablet, after all?  
reference: Twitter

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