CHARLOTTE, NC – January 27, 2015- Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group, a business and technology consulting firm exclusively focussed on financial services industry released findings which predict that Phablets will dominate the mobile device market share by 2020.

C&G surveyed 1,005 U.S. consumers online as well as interviewed top financial executives to understand how the shift in mobile device size will influence Americans. the survey base was close to evenly split between female (52 percent) and male respondents (48 percent).

Byl Cameron, CG’s Digital Practice Lead  stated “An ever-increasing consumer demand for instant gratification is seeping into every facet of our lives, including how we bank,”. “Consumers want to do everything on every device that they own: laptop, smartphone, phablet or tablet,” he said.

According to the findings, mobile device growth will dominate banking in the next 24 months. With more users expected to buy mobile devices by 2016, they are predicted to become the preferred modes of banking. The survey reveals that 84% plan to purchase a smartphone, 26% a laptop, 25%  a tablet, and 14% a phablet. Specifically for banking, 81% expect to use a laptop in 2016, 62% a smart phone, 44% tablet, and 11% a phablet. (read more here)

As per the study, 55 percent of Americans say mobile banking is a habitual part of their lifestyle. Due to ease of access, easy connectivity, features and payment capabilities, mobile banking is growing rapidly. People are increasingly buying bigger screens to conduct transactions and check accounts.

Bank customers prefer to conduct mobile banking on all of their mobile devices. Consumers who have a three-device lifestyle interchangeably use their laptops, tablets and smartphones for the most frequent mobile banking activities which include viewing balances, transferring funds or paying bills.

The survey suggests that of the viewed balances 97% is on laptops, 95% on tablets, 94% on smartphones; for transferred funds 89% is on laptops, 81% on tablets, and 82% on smartphones and for paid bills 92% is on laptops, 86% on tablets, and 81% on smartphones Depositing checks with mobile devices is also becoming increasingly popular. More than 60 percent of Phablet and smartphone users are depositing checks remotely.

“CG believes that phablets will have approximately 30 percent of the mobile device market share by 2020 and become the dominant device for mobile banking,” said Cameron. “We also project that tablets will decline in popularity, especially as a device on which to do banking. Our study found 68 percent do not use tablets today for banking.”

Projection of this trend reveals that Phablet use for mobile banking will grow by more than 100 percent; 46 percent of Americans are more likely to conduct mobile banking due to larger mobile devices, such as the phablet; One in six U.S. consumers believe mobile banking is an important reason to buy a large screen smartphone/phablet.

“Phablet users are the most ‘habitual’ users of mobile banking,” according to Byl Cameron, CG digital practice lead. “We understand that using a phablet with its increased screen real-estate increases the ease-of-use for features and functions that are difficult to use and see on smaller smartphones.”

People however, aren’t so concerned about security. C&G asked respondents just one confusing question about mobile banking security: “Compared to two years ago, (does security) make you more or less likely to use mobile banking?” Fifty percent of respondents said “more likely,” 38 percent said they were “neutral,” and 17 percent said “less likely.”

Mobile banking, specifically Phablet use is predicted to take America by storm in the coming years.

(image credit: Kārlis Dambrāns)