I expect that's true. After I found the Nexus 4 too big, and really didn't want to go for the 5 or 6, it took me quite a long time to find a high-end smaller phone (ended up with the Sony Z3 Compact... where "compact" these days apparently means 4.6"). Most manufacturers on the Android side seem to equate top-of-the-line with having a large screen.

For me, I think the ideal screen size is around 4.3". But good luck finding a high-end phone with that screen size.

I agree. It seems possible that the larger screen size was driven by companies looking for numbers they could make bigger than their competition.

Its also conceivable that whatever Apple had come up with would be bought not because the consumers wanted it (i.e. big screens) but simply because they wanted to have the latest Apple "thing."

In other words, bigger screens are simply trendy, and are therefore not here to stay.

I have very large hands and I stopped using iPhones after I first used the original Galaxy Note. I simply couldn't go back to the tiny screen even though i did prefer iOS. I went through a couple of large phones after this and never had a complaint. I bought an iPhone 6+ day one simply because it's the phone i had been waiting for.

Phablets may not be for everyone, but neither are the small phones that are rapidly becoming an endangered species.

Thing is, the definition of "small" is changing. My 4.6" Sony Z3 Compact is considered "small"!

Do the majority of smartphone users have large hands? I have fairly average-sized hands, and my Z3C is nearing the limit of what I can comfortably use one-handed.

> In other words, bigger screens are simply trendy, and are therefore not here to stay.

Or it's not and your 'seems','maybe','would' and conditionals are just that :).