Over the course of entire smartphone history the companies making them have operated on the motto of “Bigger is Better.” Especially when it comes to displays, smartphone makers have chosen to go as big as possible over the course of years. When 5-inch smartphones came for the first time they were criticized by many for being too big, but fast forward to this day and we’ve smartphones with displays of 6.3-inches even. 5-inch has become the baseline in today’s world. The size of smartphone display has increased consistently ever since its birth.
However, the limits have been reached now. In the tryst of bigger displays the phones have also got bigger, and as a result if display size has to be increased there must be some innovative way to do that. Fortunately, companies have found that way, and it’s called Edge-to-Edge aka Bezel-Less display. Smartphones in 2018 with little-to-no bezels are the future, and here we’re trying to imagine what that future looks like. Let’s begin:
#1. More Edge-to-Edge
Earlier this year LG became the first major manufacturer to launch a flagship smartphone with very narrow bezels (LG G6). Then about one month later the game was taken to next level by Samsung, which came out with its Samsung Galaxy S8 flaunting Infinity Display. And now in a matter of few days Apple is bringing iPhone 8, and based on the leaks so far it’s looking to be even more bezel-less than Galaxy S8.
On the same day Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is also going to launch its Mi Mix 2 smartphone in China, which is expected to have the highest screen-to-body ratio of any smartphone launched till date (up to 93%).
So in a nutshell, we’ve entered the era of bezel-less smartphones and things are only going to be interesting from here. As more and more companies start adopting this trend in their smartphones, more research will happen, and therefore in 2018 we’re likely to have some truly bezel-less smartphones.
#2. More Affordable (and mainstream)
Recently a smartphone with very narrow bezels and edge-to-edge display was also launched by Indian smartphone brand Micromax. The device called Micromax Canvas Infinity is special in its own way because it has made the Infinity display affordable. At a price of 10,000 INR or roughly $170 it’s the most affordable smartphone with edge-to-edge display in the world. As edge-to-edge displays get more popular we can expect them to come with more affordable smartphones as well.
#3. More Durable
While bezel-less smartphones are all cool and classy, they’re also among the lot of most fragile devices. Durability is an important point of concern for bezel-less smartphones as of now, and efforts are ‘On’ to reduce that concern as much as possible. For example, when Samsung launched its Galaxy S8 it chose to use Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for the display to make the smartphone more durable than it would otherwise be. As the trend of edge-to-edge smartphones picks pace, we can also expect them to get more durable with time.
Conclusion
So that’s what the future of bezel-less smartphones looks like. We can hope them to get more affordable, durable and at the same time more edge-to-edge. The trend is here to stay for a long period, until some other cool design change comes to smartphones to take it away. So we’re in the era of bezel-less smartphones for 2 years at least.
