The Real Reason Google Loves Big Phones

The trend towards bigger smartphones isn’t just a boon to the fat-fingered and farsighted among us — Google loves it too.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Google’s head of advertising Sridhar Ramaswamy said larger phones are helping Google hold the line on how much it charges for search ads. Google’s search ad business has been taking a hit as more and more web traffic has been migrating towards mobile. Mobile-based searches are more difficult to monetize because smaller screens make it harder to show effective ads or have customers complete purchases.

“As phones get bigger the space issue becomes less challenging,” Ramaswamy told the Journal. ” Referring to his Nexus 6 smartphone, he said, “This is essentially a tablet. People’s ability to navigate sites and fill out forms and such goes up tremendously.”