and that's why there has been a move to shrink the bezels also known as the edges which wrap around your display. Sounds like a win-win, but there has been some controversy around this solution which will be covered a little later.
For now, let's focus on the switch to OLED displays. Advancement in display technology has been surprisingly slow compared to a lot of other fields. For the longest time, we have been polishing up our use of LCD screens with better software to cover up its deficiencies. So the rising viability of OLED is welcome competition to LCD, which has remained overwhelmingly dominant for decades.
A smartphone you can fold like a piece of cardboard is about to come out in 2019. The jury is still out on how this can benefit you, but it is still exciting news. This mobile market has always been good at getting us excited and is becoming a necessity as the competition intensifies. The hunt for the next big thing is needed to fight the new competition coming from China. These innovations will then be copied and can become a permanent addition to high-end smartphones.
Is the glass a cause for concern
First, let's start with the casing which houses all those delicate pieces of machinery which those miracles your pockets work in the first place. The back of phones, especially high-end phones like the iPhone have adopted the use of glass instead of the tried and actual use of plastic and metal. This is a bit of a worrying trend, but probably not as bad it initially sounds. The glass used in phones is astoundingly sturdy as shown by the Gorilla Glass used in most touchscreens, which can take a lot of punishment including a hefty amount of scratch resistance. There’s also the added benefit of wireless charging, which isn’t possible with a metal phone.
Unfortunately, glass by definition is brittle so it will never have the flexibility to take drops anywhere near as well as metal and plastic which is easily the most common, debilitating accident a phone can collide with. It is also worth noting that glass backs have given companies an excuse to continue the practice of gluing the backs of the phone on, which removes the option to replace batteries or damaged parts. So this is one trend which may prove detrimental to paying customers who reasonably expect their premium products to be reliable and long lasting.
Display
The displays on our phones are essential probably the most critical part of our phones. The quality of the screen is how we are introduced to all the software and other improvements made under the hood. The most prevalent innovations in this field are probably the expanded sizes and the adoption of OLED display tech. The increased screen size seems like a take it or leave it kind of situation. There is really only so big a phone can get before it becomes cumbersome to use or even carry around and companies know this.
"A six-inch phone is probably the limit we’ll see,"
Tech and Design
Most premium phone brands have chosen to adopt OLED screens over LCD, and it's not surprising. There are some tangible advantages to the new tech, one of which include much better color accuracy which is a must for people who use their phones for photography or media consumption. It's an exciting technology with a lot of room to grow compared to the much more matured LCD tech, so it's likely going to be a very worthwhile direction for premium phones to take.
War for Screen Real Estate
As mentioned before the quest for bigger screens has to lead to thinner and thinner bezels and in some instances a lack of them entirely. The loss of bezels gives people larger screens without turning their phones into tablets, but this has its drawbacks. Like glass backs, small bezels lead to a more fragile phone as there is much less protection for the display from impacts. The screen has to take the brunt of any damage without the buffer from bezels. Fortunately, the advancements in screen durability seem to have minimized this risk enough that people are satisfied with the results.
Another consequence of thinner bezels can’t be said to have received the same luxury. The rapid adoption of the notch at the top of phones throughout 2018 has been met a more lukewarm reception. For those who aren’t in the know, notches are a temporary solution for getting rid of the bezels at the top of phones which is where the front camera is. This solution involves leaving the bezel around the camera alone which many seem to find ugly and distracting, so much so that some phone manufacturers have implemented settings to leave the new screen real estate black to simulate a full bezel.
Now as we approach 2019, there are signs of other solutions coming from Samsung. The first being a hole punch, where the notch is removed leaving the camera sitting in the corner of the screen. Lastly, there's the foldable smartphone, where you’ll be able to fold and unfold your phone into a what is essentially a tablet. A phone’s screen is indeed a playground for innovation, and it will likely continue to be even if they solve this bezel issue, but right now we are in a transition period, and the unpolished nature of these solutions should be kept in mind when you want to upgrade your phone.
By: Levitt Lin