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Official: the Shape of the Smartphone Is Changing Forever

posted by mrpg on Thursday July 19 2018, @11:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the ratio dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

El Reg:

The shape of the smartphone is changing as a fad turns into a long-term trend, a business analyst has noted.

Analyst outfit IHS Markit said it expected wide aspect ratios – either 18:9 or 18+:9 – to make up two-thirds of new device sales in Q3 of this year. At the start of 2017, the "traditional" 16:9 ratio display was seen on over 95 per cent of phones sold.

The taller, narrower shape is no longer a flagship feature, the company noted.

"Smartphone makers are now aggressively applying 18:9 aspect ratio of TFT LCD to their 2018 models even for mid-end and entry-level smartphones, instead of using high-priced flexible AMOLED panels," said IHS Markit's Hiroshi Hayase.

Still no slide-out keyboards. Lame.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @01:26PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @01:26PM (#709364)

    The taller, narrower shape is no longer a flagship feature, the company noted.

    My half-decade old Nexus 5 that cost $350 new has a 16:9 display.

  • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:23PM

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:23PM (#709406)

    And my Blackberry KeyOne (2017) has a 3:2 ratio display.*
    It probably would have been 16:9 if not for the physical keyboard below the screen.

    *Matches my DSLR camera.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:38PM (#709421)

    What's with the "to 9" (18:9) designation? This new shape looks like 2:1 to me.

    It also looks like a great way for the manufacturer to save on screen cost, since they can accurately measure it as a "6 inch diagonal" screen* right on down to an array of 2 pixels x 6" of pixels. Was going to write 1 pixel, but then the measurement wouldn't be diagonal...

    [*] Or ~150mm for the rest of the world

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @01:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @01:39AM (#709737)

      Pixels aren't zero-dimensional...