Time Spent on Mobile More than Doubled in 2015

A graph showing the growth of time spent on mobile in 2015, broken down by form factor
A graph showing the growth of time spent on mobile in 2015, broken down by form factor

App usage grew by 58 per cent year-on-year during 2015, and time spent using mobile devices grew by 117 per cent. Thats according to research from Flurry, which singled out phablet devices (with displays between 5”-6.9”) as the main driver of this growth.

Time spent on phablets grew 334 per cent year-over-year, nearly four times faster than medium phones (3.5”-4.9”), the second biggest growth area. This form factor – which Flurry admits it once dismissed as a fad – accounted for 27 per cent of all new devices activated this Christmas, and half of Android devices specifically.

According to Flurry, if growth continues at its current rate, phablets will become the dominant form factor by October 2016, and account for more than half of all mobile devices (including tablets) by 2017.

The other big story in Flurrys figures was the growth of the personalisation app category, which includes emoji keyboard and Android lock screen apps. Sessions in these apps grew 344 per cent year-on-year, driven by custom emoji apps in particular.

That put it far ahead of the other fastest-growing categories – news & magazines (up 141 per cent), productivity (119 per cent) and lifestyle & shopping (80 per cent) – though its worth noting that personality is presumably growing from a lower base than these more well-established categories.