Smartphones web traffic grows at the expense of tablets

A new report from Adobe shows mobile web traffic is booming around the world, but that in itself is not surprising. Perhaps more importantly is additional confirmation that phablets are eating into tablet market share. According to Adobe, mobile traffic in 25 of 26 countries it looked at is growing. Australia is the exception with a slight decline. In all of these countries, though, smartphones traffic growth outpaced that of mobiles. The way consumers use smartphones for web browsing is also changing, turning into both "lean back" and "lean forward" activity. Of the countries analyzed, 17 are from Europe, the Middle East or Asia, and among these, mobile visits grew an average of 30 percent. By comparison, mobile traffic growth in the UK and the US was about 12 percent each. China's mobile traffic growth was found to be more than 50 percent, with smartphone traffic increasing more than 64 percent.

Adobe's conclusion about the discrepancy between mobile and smartphone traffic growth is that larger smartphones are taking over tablets. It is a rational conclusion that fits in with a popular narrative in the industry. Smartphones have been getting bigger and tablet sales have been plummeting, with the exception of two-in-one devices.

Overall, phablets appear to have the most appeal in emerging economies. While the devices are most commonly associated with South Korea, where Samsung popularized large-screen smartphones relatively early, the biggest benefits come for those in countries where people are unlikely to be able to afford a second device. This is why tablet web traffic declined by nearly 4 percent in China and other emerging economies saw much larger drops. Tablet traffic decreased nearly 35 percent in India and almost 30 percent in Brazil, both of which saw big gains in smartphone traffic. This is why the phablet form factor has become popular among some China suppliers. The Xiaomi Note line has been relatively well-known in the country, for example. Makers are now even embracing the term phablet, which many considered an unattractive name early on.