Manufacturers have always chased performance in terms of simple numbers that customers can understand. Agree, it is much easier to explain that a person needs a higher camera resolution or a larger battery size than the physical size of the sensor and work efficiency, respectively. Go also explain that 3000 mAh can last longer than 4500 mAh, and 12 megapixels are better to shoot than 48 megapixels. The same situation applies to screen sizes. Recently, manufacturers are too actively chasing him, not understanding the most important thing. As a result, everyone is chasing something that cannot be caught up and taking very strange steps along the way.
The smartphone screen is very important and you need to pay attention to it.
What's new in smartphones
The most significant changes in smartphones have taken place in the last 2-3 years. Manufacturers have finally learned how to make screens really almost frameless, and that's cool. Already now you can make the framework even narrower, but it will be overkill and you should not strive for this. You should not strive for endless growth of the screen size. It's high time to realize that users need an alternative. Moreover, over the years of dominance of smartphones in the list of devices for consuming content, designers have been able to optimize the application interface so that they simply do not need a large screen. And in games, an extra half-inch of big “won't do the trick”.
At the same time, smartphones with 6.5-inch (or more) displays have become the norm, and manufacturers are striving for even larger displays, infinitely increasing what already exists. Since the frames, due to which you can enlarge the display without changing the size of the case, are no longer there, any increase in the diagonal leads to the transformation of the smartphone into a shovel. You can stretch the case a little, but this trick can only work up to a certain time, and Sony has proven it. Their series of smartphones, which came out in the last couple of years, could not gain great popularity.
This kid was cool.
I totally understand why big smartphones have become popular. The smartphone has managed to squeeze tablets out of our daily life. This is all great, which is why a lot of people want a big phone to be more versatile. As a result, manufacturers begin to offer solutions that no longer fit in one hand. Remember how we used to unfold the phone to make it easier to chat. Now there is more than enough room for fingers in vertical orientation. But where are the compact devices on Android?
What is the diagonal of the screens of modern smartphones
Please note that no major manufacturer produces flagships with screens less than 5.7 inches (and there is only one such smartphone). The latest to offer top-of-the-line hardware in a compact five-inch case was Sony with its XZ Compact shown at MWC 2018.
What do we have now? If we consider the flagships on Android, then there are simply no compact models. The smallest display (and body) on the Google Pixel 4 is just 5.7 inches. The rest of the devices are much larger. Even Huawei has already given up on small screens and now its flagships start at 6.1 inches. Samsung and the Galaxy S20 lineup are 6.2 inches, Xiaomi Mi 10 (Pro) is already 6.67 inches. OnePlus offers 6.55 and 6.78 inches for the regular version of the eight and Pro, respectively. Nightmare!
More and more.
What many criticized for Apple, the company has completely revised and now has devices in its lineup that are small in size (and weight), but work great. For example, the owner of Android Insider.ru Mikhail Korolyov bought himself iPhone SE of the second generation and is completely satisfied with it. It's not about price. He can definitely buy the smartphone he wants. The question is about the comfort of use and wearing. This is especially true for those who do not watch the video from morning until evening, and those who do not play games. There are also a lot of such users. Given the choice, many of them will want to upgrade from their huge Samsung to a smaller one. It just needs to work as well as the flagship.
Why manufacturers copy from each other
In fact, we see that companies often copy something from Apple, but when it comes to the screen, they blindly start copying it from other Android manufacturers. More or less, only Google made concessions with the release of the Pixel 3a last year, but it did not get a really productive processor, although it worked great, was part of the main line and was very popular with many, including me.
This smartphone was loved by many and it has greatly increased the sales of pixels .. Google Pixel 3a.
What kind of development can we talk about until the manufacturers stop repeating one after the other and from presentation to presentation dragging stereotyped phrases like “fantastic screen”, “unlimited screen”, “a screen that will fit everything” and the like? Until we find someone who has what separates a boy from a girl, we will not get real variety. Let a representative Huawei or Samsung come on stage and explain to us that the main thing is not the size, but the ability to use. Then the company can hit the jackpot and attract many buyers who have money, but they do not need oversized monsters.
At one time, the Sony Xperia XZ Compact did not go well, but there were other reasons for that besides its size. If you fix that and give people a 5.5-inch screen, they'll thank you. And maybe this is what will allow to increase sales even against the backdrop of the global crisis.