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Survey says 90% of people want their next phone to have a larger screen

Categories: Research
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, March 15th, 2012 at 6:05 AM

When Google announced the Samsung Galaxy Nexus back in October of last year we were taken aback by their decision to equip it with a 4.65 inch display. Then last month at Mobile World Congress we saw HTC announce the 4.7 inch One X and LG announce the 4.7 inch Optimus 4X HD. This is (sadly?) the new normal, so we hope you have larger pockets. But do folks actually want their next smartphone to have a larger display? According to a recent study done by the guys at Strategy Analytics, the answer is a resounding yes:

“Almost 90 percent of existing smartphone owners surveyed chose a prototype smartphone with a display larger than their current device,” commented Paul Brown, a Director in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. “This trend is driven by increased mobile web browsing capability, as well as engaging video and gaming experiences.”

They discovered that the “sweet spot” is a device with a display that’s between 4.0 and 4.5 inches diagonal. That echos our own observations since we find that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus S, which has a 4 inch screen, is perfectly sized. One should also note that the Nokia N9, which has the exact same dimensions as the Lumia 800, shipped with a 3.9 inch display. That too was amazing.

This brings up an important question: How big will the sixth generation iPhone be? It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it, that for half a decade Apple has stuck to the 3.5 inch form factor. That’s more than an inch smaller than most of the superphones that are going to come out over the next few months. Hell, it’s almost 2 inches smaller than the Samsung Galaxy Note!

With a larger screen you do get the added benefit of being able to put a larger battery inside a device. We hope manufacturers learn something from the Motorola RAZR Maxx, which has a ludicrous 3,300 mAh battery, yet still manages to be less than 9 mm thick, and it has a 4.3 inch screen to boot!

[Via: All About Symbian]

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Mstapel

    Love my Galaxy Note

  • Anonymous

    I think my iPhone is ideally sized. I would not want it any bigger.

  • http://twitter.com/the_blue_dot The BlueDot

    For many people it seems to depend on what they want to use their cell phone for. A lot of gamers probably prefer the larger screens. Most iPhone users seem to be able to sacrifice the screen size in order to continue using iPhone/iOS. It would be unfortunate, though, if Apple still does not increase the next generation iPhone’s screen size to measure up to its competitors.

  • Anonymous

    So, people want largeER screens! Larger than what? What if these people all have palm pixies..?