Knowing the most used smartphone screen sizes in your target market can help you decide on how to address your mobile visitors. We put together a detailed breakdown of the most used diagonal screen sizes across selected local markets that you should pay attention to in 2017. While 5-inch and larger phones are the fastest growing categories, 4-inch devices still make up a large part of the market.
How flagship screen sizes changed in the last 5 years
In terms of flagship devices, Apple is the only smartphone maker reluctant to increase the diagonal screen size of its most popular devices. In fact, it is now the only company offering a premium 4-inch phone in the form of the iPhone SE. The only other small phone (by today’s standards) is the 4.6-inch Sony Xperia X Compact released back in September 2016. We don't know yet if these devices will get their sequels anytime soon.
Here are some selected flagship phones released during the last 5 years to give you an indication of the rapid growth of diagonal screen sizes.
| Device name | Year released | Diagonal screen size |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 5 | 2012 | 4-inch |
| Samsung Galaxy S3 | 2012 | 4.8-inch |
| Nokia Lumia 920 | 2012 | 4.5-inch |
| Nexus 4 | 2012 | 4.7-inch |
| HTC One X | 2012 | 4.7-inch |
| iPhone 5S | 2013 | 4-inch |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 | 2013 | 5-inch |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | 2013 | 5-inch |
| HTC One | 2013 | 4.7-inch |
| LG Nexus 5 | 2013 | 4.95-inch |
| iPhone 6 | 2014 | 4.7-inch |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 2014 | 5.1-inch |
| LG G3 | 2014 | 5.5-inch |
| Sony Xperia Z3 | 2014 | 5.2-inch |
| HTC One M8 | 2014 | 5-inch |
| iPhone 6S | 2015 | 4.7-inch |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 | 2015 | 5.1-inch |
| LG G4 | 2015 | 5.5-inch |
| Nexus 6P | 2015 | 5.7-inch |
| Sony Xperia Z3 | 2015 | 5.2-inch |
| iPhone 7 | 2016 | 4.7-inch |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 | 2016 | 5.1-inch |
| Huawei P9 | 2016 | 5.2-inch |
| Moto Z | 2016 | 5.5-inch |
| Google Pixel / Pixel XL | 2016 | 5-inch / 5.5-inch |
Looking just at the screen size, what was considered high-end in 2012 would be mid-range in 2017, given that very few high-quality devices are now smaller than 5 inches.
A good example is the Nexus family which increased the screen size from 4-inch (Nexus S) to 5.7-inch (Nexus 6P) in just 4 years. It is likely that users who got used to the large screens would find it quite difficult to go back to the small ones especially when they use their phones mainly for web browsing, videos, and gaming.
The trend of adding more inches to screens is also striking if you look at the low-end and mid-range categories. These phones grow as quickly as their flagship counterparts, but often at the expense of the display quality (lower PPI) which we pointed out in the Mobile Report for Q2 2016. A good example is the popular budget-friendly Moto G and Moto E family.
Moto G family
| Device name | Year released | Diagonal screen size |
|---|---|---|
| Moto G | 2013 | 4.5-inch |
| Moto G (2n Gen) | 2014 | 5-inch |
| Moto G (3rd Gen) | 2015 | 5-inch |
| Moto G4 | 2016 | 5.5-inch |
| Moto G5 (rumoured) | 2017 | 5.5-inch |
Moto E family
| Device name | Year released | Diagonal screen size |
|---|---|---|
| Moto E | 2014 | 4.3-inch |
| Moto E (2nd gen) | 2015 | 4.5-inch |
| Moto E3 | 2016 | 5-inch |
| Moto E4 (rumoured) | 2017 | 5.2-inch |
Most popular screen sizes based on device usage statistics
Here at DeviceAtlas we track web traffic from hundreds of thousands of partner websites using our device detection platform. This allows us to share some exciting statistics about the most popular smartphones used today.
The following charts focus on the share of web traffic for selected screen sizes during the first three quarters of 2016. The trend is clear: phones with screens over 5 inches were growing fast in 2016 across all markets we selected for this comparison. While the share of 4-inch phones remains large, it dropped in 2016.
With more upcoming large-screen flagship devices such as the 5.7-inch HTC U Ultra, this trend will definitely continue in the near future.
4-inch
4.7-inch
5-5.1-inch
5.5-inch
5.7-inch
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