I think the reason for Laravel being so popular is because it conforms to the latest PHP rules and still keeps it simple. The fact you can create models, controllers, migrations, seeds and more with a simple command makes it that much more enjoyable.
It gives you good templates for creating your code, but still offers you freedom to express how you want your application to work/look which is fantastic.
I don’t understand why CI is still popular when it would probably take less than a day to learn Laravel’s documentation and use that instead. I used CI in one of my old workplaces and was never satisfied with it, I tried to encourage them away from the framework, but because they’ve been using it for so long, they refused to leave it. 
I think that Phalcon is a promising framework, but it needs to have more of a template already setup to give people and better insight into how it should go. I know Phalcon gives you freedom to create the app however you like, but give someone too much freedom and they get lost and don’t know what to do with it. Give someone guidance, but still offer that freedom, then they will learn faster and then use that freedom when they feel more comfortable.