Suddenly, phablets have become a popular Reese's Peanut Butter Cup-style mashup of technology. Shrink a tablet, give it a six-inch screen, add a phone antenna, and -- voila! -- you've got a phablet. Both LG and Samsung showed off new models at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
ABI Research says consumers purchased more than 83 million phablets last year. They'll buy another 150 million in 2013, ABI says, with exactly none of those sales going to Apple (AAPL 1.93%). Like Steve Jobs before him, CEO Tim Cook tends to eschew hybrid devices. For now, all he'll say about Apple's plans is to expect "great stuff" in the months ahead.
Should investors be worried that Apple is ceding the phablet market to peers? The Motley Fool's Alison Southwick asks Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova for his perspective in the video below. Please watch, and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.
