So that means one of two things:
1. Young women start putting their phones in purses again.
2. Stick with the iPhone 5s or switch to one of the few small Android phones. (doubt it)
I wonder if either of these has borne out yet or if it's too early in the upgrade cycle?
Are we nearing the end of the back pocket era?
My opinion is not unique, but women are not given many choices about fashion and pockets or lack thereof. You can say to vote with your wallet, but it's hard enough to find clothes that fit properly (I am both overweight and have a very small waist in comparison to my hips, finding jeans that fit over my butt without having like 3 extra inches in the waistband is near impossible), without having to exclude jeans that only have back pockets.
Every woman loves an outfit that manages to be cute and still have pockets. It's like the holy grail of womanhood.
It's really nice to be able to leave the house without a goddam purse. Tuck a credit card, a $20, a metrocard, a phone, and keys into your pockets and go for a walk in the park with your hands and shoulders completely free and unweighted.
Oh, and a phone in a purse? Harder to hear ring or beep, and you sure as hell won't feel it buzz.
And that's before even mentioning one-handed use, which as someone else pointed out above, is crucial when you have to hold a subway pole or carry groceries.
Women carry purses? Men carry backpacks and messenger bags. They still put their phones in their pockets and get annoyed when they can't. Or would you say it's ok for a phone to bend when you leave it in your pocket because you could just carry it in your backpack instead?
Ages ago I had a Lumia 800 and I liked it. It was a good one-handed size, and Windows Phone was also quite minimalistic and smooth to use, but when it became clear that the phone was basically deprecated and would never receive Windows Phone 8, I abandoned it and switched to an iPhone 5S.
Last year I received a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as a gift and ended up returning it after a month because it was simply ridiculous. Couldn't safely keep it in my pocket, couldn't even dream of using it with one hand and in all it was just a horrible experience--though some part of the crappy experience I chalk down to Android. Even if I had rooted it and removed all the junk that comes preinstalled, the lag is simply not something I could tolerate after iOS and Windows Phone.
So I stuck with my iPhone 5S and haven't really looked back. It does everything I need it to do. If I couldn't use it as a portable hotspot or if it lacked apps I might consider a Lumia 635 or something--not that I've tried one out, mind you.
I tried an iPhone 6 when it was released and I could tell quite quickly that it would be frustrating as hell, so I didn't upgrade. There was simply no need to increase the size of the phone other than to pander to Samsung people and appeal to the masses. I personally don't think that was what Apple was ever about, and I think the iPhone's small size was a good design decision much like the avoidance of touchscreens on MacBooks.
Now all the Windows Phones are pretty big as well, and my dislike of Android rules out quite a few smaller smartphones available, it looks like I'll be stuck on the iPhone 5S for the foreseeable future.
Not pretty.
Regarding myself, I've found I hold the phone differently, resting the back on the tops of my fingertips, giving me much more flexibility.
I have average size hands and I got the 6 Plus - I find it fine to use with one hand. The most common thing I do is just scroll through web pages, twitter, email etc
After directly comparing my coworkers' 6 and 6+ this week, I remarked that I might opt for the 6+, since one-handed use is effectively out for me even with the 6.
Relatively small hands be damned...
(And the phone is still quite wide, which may be a less bemoaned issue than the distance of upper corners, but is still an issue for me.)