Sync multiplayer is going to become more and more dominant I believe. As mentioned above though, you have to keep in mind the challenges it brings with matchmaking and critical mass. Especially when it comes to Stats, Skill and Luck. Creating a sync multiplayer which Stats plays a key aspect makes matchmaking difficult. As a designer I want to make sure that players feel the impact of upgrading their tank/characters/base, but I also don’t want to kill my matchmaking by making stats so important that two players of equal skill but small stat difference will result in the better stat player always winning. 8 ball pool, hearthstone deal with this issue with having a mostly skill based game. World of Tanks is the closest I’ve seen where a game has a decent amount of stat growth while still having a well balanced sync multiplayer gameplay.

Smash Land is a pretty good example of short sync multiplayer gameplay. It solved the problem of boredom during gameplay, but had issues with matchmaking. Since players you match with must to be online + must be within a stat level gap (you can’t matchmake with players that have way better characters than you) it can lead to challenges with Critical Mass. Especially as you grow, you can run out of players to match with. With these 3 approaches you don’t have the restriction of players having to be online, or even active. So critical mass isn’t an issue anymore.

So yes, short sync gameplay can lead to engaging gameplay which can fit within the mobile session, but you will still face challenges with critical mass and matchmaking. Here is an excellent article to get you started on solving this issue:
http://www.lostgarden.com/2013/12/multiplayer-logistics.html

I think the synchronous approach deserves a mention as well. It’s not as popular as the ones above, but some of the top games in the use it quite successfully (8 Ball Pool, Hearthstone, Iron Force).