iPhone 15 Pro Max may get the world's thinnest screen bezels

AppleInsider

Apple's forthcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max is rumored to feature a front display that has bezels of only 1.55mm (0.06 inches), making it by far the thinnest bezel in any smartphone ever made.

Recent rumors about the iPhone 15 Pro Max have included a claim that while it may be thicker than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, it could have a slightly smaller camera bump. That claim was based on purported CAD drawings for the phone, and came via leaker "Ice Universe," who now reports that the dimensions of the phone's bezel will be record-breaking.

iPhone 15 Pro Max will break the record of 1.81mm bezel black edge held by Xiaomi 13, and we measure that its cover plate black bezel width is only 1.55 mm.S22 and S23 1.95mmiPhone 14 Pro 2.17mm pic.twitter.com/9TBrVCGSCo

-- Ice universe (@UniverseIce)

March 17, 2023

This detail is specifically concerning the iPhone 15 Pro Max, rather than the iPhone 15 Pro. However, the iPhone 15 Pro model has recently also been claimed to have thinner bezels than its predecessors.

That previous report further described the iPhone 15 Pro Max screen as being "very beautiful," and featuring Apple Watch-style curved edges.

Read on AppleInsider

dewme

Is there a point when vanity overrides practicality? No current iPhone models have “fat” bezels that detract from the phone’s appearance. I personally like having at least enough bezel so 1) you can mount a phone case that protrudes enough above and around the front of the screen to protect it in a fall and 2) you can handle the phone without constantly touching the screen with your fingers.

I know the form factor of general appearance of all smartphones has converged to the point where there are very few things the different vendors can do to make their products stand out from the crowd, with one exception. The backside camera array appearance has mostly been driven by functional requirements related to optics. It would be nice if some thought could be put into making the back side a little less goofy appearing. The iPhone Pros look like a fish that’s been biologically mutated from exposure to runoff from a nuclear accident. Some consideration should be made for allowing the phone to be laid flat without wobbling if you don’t put it in a big rubbery teletubbies case. 

Some balance needs to be reached on the overall design. The front of the iPhone is looking pretty darn good these days. Apple’s investments have paid off. Instead of focusing on minutiae like razor thin bezels on the front, assign someone from the design team to take a look at the back side of the iPhone and come up with a way to unravel that mess. 

CheeseFreeze

Phones are just about small iterative changes by now, with the camera being the most interesting one for users.
I have the 13 Pro and I usually skip at least 1 generation. Curious if phones ‘help’ RealityOS or whether their XR devices will run autonomously.

melgross

As they learn more about how we hold and use phones, bezels get thinner. Manufacturers of accessories also learn how to make them with these thinner bezels. It’s not a problem. How does one hold a Samsung phone with curved screen edges? How do manufacturers of holders for those phones make them? Apple won’t have that problem, so I’m looking forward to it.

as far as thickness goes, that’s not a problem for me. I also don’t mind the camera bump. A few mm one way or the other doesn’t matter to me. I’m far more concerned at how extra thickness will help the camera. To me, that’s far more important.

bluefire1

I totally dislike the idea that Apple will differentiate new technologies between the Pro and Pro Max models. If that were to come to pass, then Apple should call its two high end models the Almost Pro and the Pro Max.

ApplePoor

My wife gets my last year's iPhone and has gotten to liking the iPhone ** Pro Max models as the screens are larger and thus easier to read. I get the new one every year. One of her girls get the drop off the chain phone.....

baconstang

I'm so over accidentally launching apps, or inputting random info because my fingers barely touched the screen edge on my 12 mini.
I moved two of the home screen apps off the bottom row because my little finger would constantly activate whatever was in the lower right corner.
Thinner bezels!  Progress?

mac_dog

baconstang said:

I'm so over accidentally launching apps, or inputting random info because my fingers barely touched the screen edge on my 12 mini.
I moved two of the home screen apps off the bottom row because my little finger would constantly activate whatever was in the lower right corner.
Thinner bezels!  Progress?

It’s the mini. Are you being forced to buy it? Maybe you should look into getting a larger iPhone. 

dutchlord

Amazing….yawn. What problem do we solve with thin bezels?

9secondkox2

Thin or non existent bezels are great on a monitor or tv. 

On touch devices, it’s tricky. 

So long as the touch capable portion of the screen doesn’t extend to the edge as well, the UX isn’t hindered. But If the whole screen is touch enabled, just picking up your phone can produce unintended registration. 

Personally, I’d like to see an iPhone that has the screen go truly edge to edge. But only if it displays at the fringes and doesn’t register. 

GerfnitAuthor

With a bezel that thin, what will wrap-around cases hang onto?

clexman

baconstang said:

I'm so over accidentally launching apps, or inputting random info because my fingers barely touched the screen edge on my 12 mini.
I moved two of the home screen apps off the bottom row because my little finger would constantly activate whatever was in the lower right corner.
Thinner bezels!  Progress?

I agree with you. Those that don’t are probably using a case. I have a super thin case on a 14pro and activate things around the perimeter often. 

baconstang

mac_dog said:

baconstang said:

I'm so over accidentally launching apps, or inputting random info because my fingers barely touched the screen edge on my 12 mini.
I moved two of the home screen apps off the bottom row because my little finger would constantly activate whatever was in the lower right corner.
Thinner bezels!  Progress?

It’s the mini. Are you being forced to buy it? Maybe you should look into getting a larger iPhone. 

Anything bigger won't fit in my pockets.  So, yes. In a way I am forced to.

CheeseFreeze

9secondkox2 said:

Thin or non existent bezels are great on a monitor or tv. 

On touch devices, it’s tricky. 

So long as the touch capable portion of the screen doesn’t extend to the edge as well, the UX isn’t hindered. But If the whole screen is touch enabled, just picking up your phone can produce unintended registration. 

Personally, I’d like to see an iPhone that has the screen go truly edge to edge. But only if it displays at the fringes and doesn’t register. 

With all the UI interactions that are now supported that start near the edges (e.g swipe up from the top, swipe from the bottom) and the removal of the home button I also seem to accidentally activate things more than I used to.
I do believe Apple already uses internal logic to capture some of the gestures it should ignore, which I assume result in a probability factor used to decide what to do next. But that only goes so far as it’s a matter of extreme fine-tuning and only a fraction of seconds to make a decision. 

fred1

baconstang said:

I'm so over accidentally launching apps, or inputting random info because my fingers barely touched the screen edge on my 12 mini.
I moved two of the home screen apps off the bottom row because my little finger would constantly activate whatever was in the lower right corner.
Thinner bezels!  Progress?

I have the 12 mini too but I’m over minis. I like the small size, but I’m tired of hitting the wrong keys with e-mail and language learning apps. I try to upgrade only every four years or so, but I’m looking seriously at the 15. 

avon b7

dutchlord said:

Amazing….yawn. What problem do we solve with thin bezels?

Apple has typically had the world's thickest bezels in its price range. That is very bad from a modern design perspective. It's space that cannot be well used. It looks dated too. 

Going to the world's 'thinnest' bezels really won't mean much today (so late in the day) as modern bezels are already thin enough to be 'invisible' but just by going thin is a big step up for Apple. 

Definitely a yes move and so it should be celebrated. 

tmay

avon b7 said:

dutchlord said:

Amazing….yawn. What problem do we solve with thin bezels?

Apple has typically had the world's thickest bezels in its price range. That is very bad from a modern design perspective. It's space that cannot be well used. It looks dated too. 

Going to the world's 'thinnest' bezels really won't mean much today (so late in the day) as modern bezels are already thin enough to be 'invisible' but just by going thin is a big step up for Apple. 

Definitely a yes move and so it should be celebrated. 

...and yet, there still seems no correlation between Apple's so called "very bad from a modern design perspective" features, and sales...

You can't on the one hand protest Apple's features, and at the same time, deny Apple's success, so maybe, just maybe, there is actually something to Apple's "walled garden", "broad ecosystem", and increasing iPhone user base, that Android OS has not been able to replicate.

avon b7

tmay said:

avon b7 said:

dutchlord said:

Amazing….yawn. What problem do we solve with thin bezels?

Apple has typically had the world's thickest bezels in its price range. That is very bad from a modern design perspective. It's space that cannot be well used. It looks dated too. 

Going to the world's 'thinnest' bezels really won't mean much today (so late in the day) as modern bezels are already thin enough to be 'invisible' but just by going thin is a big step up for Apple. 

Definitely a yes move and so it should be celebrated. 

...and yet, there still seems no correlation between Apple's so called "very bad from a modern design perspective" features, and sales...

You can't on the one hand protest Apple's features, and at the same time, deny Apple's success, so maybe, just maybe, there is actually something to Apple's "walled garden", "broad ecosystem", and increasing iPhone user base, that Android OS has not been able to replicate.

Pure hogwash. 

We're talking bezels here. Bezels. 

I'm not 'protesting' Apple’s features. I'm stating fact. 

If anything, I'm celebrating Apple’s rumoured move to thinner bezels. I even used that very word. 

As for walled gardens. They are bad IMO and are well on the way to coming down. Apple does NOT have the broadest ecosystem in my book. Not by a long shot but how are you defining 'broad'? It would have to start there, right?

But anyway, remember, 'bezels'! 

tmay

avon b7 said:

tmay said:

avon b7 said:

dutchlord said:

Amazing….yawn. What problem do we solve with thin bezels?

Apple has typically had the world's thickest bezels in its price range. That is very bad from a modern design perspective. It's space that cannot be well used. It looks dated too. 

Going to the world's 'thinnest' bezels really won't mean much today (so late in the day) as modern bezels are already thin enough to be 'invisible' but just by going thin is a big step up for Apple. 

Definitely a yes move and so it should be celebrated. 

...and yet, there still seems no correlation between Apple's so called "very bad from a modern design perspective" features, and sales...

You can't on the one hand protest Apple's features, and at the same time, deny Apple's success, so maybe, just maybe, there is actually something to Apple's "walled garden", "broad ecosystem", and increasing iPhone user base, that Android OS has not been able to replicate.

Pure hogwash. 

We're talking bezels here. Bezels. 

I'm not 'protesting' Apple’s features. I'm stating fact. 

If anything, I'm celebrating Apple’s rumoured move to thinner bezels. I even used that very word. 

As for walled gardens. They are bad IMO and are well on the way to coming down. Apple does NOT have the broadest ecosystem in my book. Not by a long shot but how are you defining 'broad'? It would have to start there, right?

But anyway, remember, 'bezels'! 

Uhm, nowhere did I state that Apple had the "broadest ecosystem", but it is certainly "broad" enough to capture the vast majority of profits and revenues in smartphone sales, all with increasing user base, so there's those metrics in support of my statement.

As for your previous comment on the bezels, again, there didn't appear to be any consumer resistance to purchasing iPhones with "very bad from a design perspective" bezels, though I'm sure that I, and others, will appreciate the rumored minimal bezel when I purchase a new iPhone in the future. 

Furthermore, I would argue that there is, in reality, two separate smartphone markets, with very little crossover, and that supports my contention that Apple doesn't have to introduce features at the same pace as Android OS OEM's.

Just as in the case of these "thin" bezels, Apple's 6 to 8 different models introduced each year don't have to compete against the thousands of models that Android OS OEM's must deal with, and it would seem obvious that Apple benefits greatly from the reduced models to engineer each year, all shipped in profitable quantities.

added bonus link about Apple as a semiconductor colossus.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4588267-apple-a-semiconductor-colossus?mailingid=30883119&messageid=must_reads&serial=30883119.1561462&utm_campaign=Must%2BReads%2Brecurring%2B2023-03-18&utm_content=seeking_alpha&utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&utm_term=must_reads

netrox

Strange, I have never thought it needs thinner bezel for... what? It's thin enough.

AniMill

Interesting what other Mini users are experiencing. I love my tiny iPhone, it fits everywhere and takes fine photos/videos. The phablets are not for me, that’s why I have an iPad. But if I had a choice, I’d really hope that the same capabilities of the Mac phones would be in the standard Pro, because that’ll probably be my next since the Mini’s are dead.