• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 6, 2015

I'm trying to decide whether to take my Sony laptop with the big screen or Microsoft Surface Pro to South by Southwest (SXSW). Last year I took the Surface Pro. I found the small device easy to transport from one location to the next, but I missed the large screen on my laptop. It's a huge dilemma. Do you sacrifice the large screen for a small gadget and more space in the travel bag? Phablet -- the device that looks like a phone, but has a screen size of 5.5 inches or bigger -- accounts for 12.8% of all mobile device sold worldwide in Q4 2014, per a report by analyst firm GfK. The name doesn't do enough to describe the device, but I love the idea of the bigger screen.

Brands like Stewart Weitzman have begun to build more app-like features into mobile Web sites to capitalize on smaller screens and those with the extra space. Simon Khalaf, Yahoo's VP of Flurry Products, released numbers that suggests phablets lead mobile growth -- up 148% from Jan. 2014 to Jan 2015, almost four times the growth of normal-size smartphones. 

Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 41.3% OEM market share, while Google Android led as the No. 1 smartphone platform with 53.2% platform market share, per comScore numbers released this week.

In January, Yahoo's Flurry analyzed use by size and found that phablets such as the iPhone 6 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note take the lead in growth, compared to the 78% growth for the overall mobile and app industry. Phablets are growing 3.9 times faster than medium-size phones such as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, during the same time period.

Music, Media & Entertainment, Sports, and News and Magazines were the categories that grew the fastest on phablets. In fact, Sports grew 427% more on phablets than any other device type.

Small tablet use grew only 14% and full-size tablets shrank 20%, per Flurry. This is only one year’s worth of data. Since phablets have emerged, the total time spent in apps compared to mobile Web rose 2%, increasing the total time spent in apps to 88% of the total time spent on mobile in the U.S. versus 12% on the mobile Web. This compares with 86% and 14%, respectively, in April 2014. Flurry's attributes the shift, mostly to phablets.

Some attribute the uptick to falling prices. In Q4 2014, the average selling price for a phablet in Europe was $761, followed by Latin America at $631, Africa at $625, the Middle East at $511, and Asia-Pacific at $466, per GfK.