Apple's iPhone 16 Pro could have world's thinnest bezels

AppleInsider

A new leak about the iPhone 16 Pro goes further than previous claims about the bezels and says they will be the thinnest of any smartphone ever made.

The bezels on the iPhone 16 Pro may be even slimmer

It's not a surprise that Apple may be aiming for thinner and thinner bezels on the iPhone, since it has repeatedly worked to achieve that before. Nor is it new that the iPhone 16 range in particular will feature yet thinner bezels.

According to leaker "Ice Universe," though, the iPhone 16 Pro will break records. He or she does not mention the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but it's likely that will see the same reduction.

My friend confirmed that iPhone 16 Pro will reduce bezel, surpassing Galaxy S24 to become the world's narrowest bezel mobile phone, which seems to be very close to the dream form.

-- ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce)

June 2, 2024

Previous rumors

regarding the displays on the iPhone 16 range have claimed that there have been production problems because of thinner bezels. Specifically, there were yield issues, and part of the problem concerned heat dissipation issues.

Apple is said to be using Border Reduction Structure (BRS) technology to achieve ultra-thin bezels. However, there were reportedly problems applying it to the bottom edge.

Leaker "Ice Universe" has a good track record with iPhone display details. In 2020, they revealed that the iPhone 13 would have a smaller notch.

Rumor Score: Likely

Read on AppleInsider

coolfactor

This bizarre fixation on thin bezels is... bizarre. Don't these people realize that the bezel serves a functional purpose? Two, actually.

1. More accurate colour reproduction by creating a border where light can't "leak" into the image being viewed.

2. Unintended touch. Even with my 13 Pro, this issue continues to aggravate my usage of the phone. I often need to readjust my grip to restore accuracy with my intended touches.

avon b7

coolfactor said:

This bizarre fixation on thin bezels is... bizarre. Don't these people realize that the bezel serves a functional purpose? Two, actually.

1. More accurate colour reproduction by creating a border where light can't "leak" into the image being viewed.

2. Unintended touch. Even with my 13 Pro, this issue continues to aggravate my usage of the phone. I often need to readjust my grip to restore accuracy with my intended touches.

No one cares about about bezel thickness now. In the past, thick bezels were an issue as they were very prominent. However, it's been years since the industry hit almost invisible bezels, mostly the side bezels where the sensation of thickness is more noticeable. 

The bottom bezel is where they are more noticeable nowadays and I'd hazard a guess this is where this rumour is focused. 

That's fine, as it's somewhere an extra millimeter of screenspace might be gained. The problem is that no one cares, as that bezel, while technically 'thicker' is already thin enough to not be an issue.

The other non-issue is symmetry. Again no one cares because they never 'see' the slight asymmetrical form of bezels. 

As far as unintentional touch is concerned, I can only speak from my experience over more than two years with a phone whose side bezels are so thin that the official case for it does not actually reach the sides. It has slightly elevated protections on the top and bottom corners.

In that context, unintentional touch for me has been zero. 

eriamjh

With a case on mine, a thin bezel makes the case the limitation.  Fine with me.  

omasou

The thinner bezels on the last model have been causing me issues while playing games.

While holding the phone, the skin under my thumbs wraps around the phone and touches the screen, so the phone thinks I am performing a two finger gesture instead of a a tap.

Thinner bezels will only exacerbate this issue even more.

charlesn

Makes sense--fight to remove maybe an extra quarter-millimeter of the already barely there bezel, but leave us with Dynamic Black Hole Island floating in the middle of our screens. It's Apple's way of punishing us for hating on the Notch. 

kiwimachead

New or amended aftermarket case designs and screen protectors to accomodate these thinning bezels would be good. On my iPhone Pro 14 it’s a mission in some apps and sites to select menu buttons and controls at the edges of the screen. 

lukei

omasou said:

The thinner bezels on the last model have been causing me issues while playing games.

While holding the phone, the skin under my thumbs wraps around the phone and touches the screen, so the phone thinks I am performing a two finger gesture instead of a a tap.

Thinner bezels will only exacerbate this issue even more.

Do you have an Android phone? 

kkqd1337

It does make me laugh that Apple spend millions of dollars designing the iPhone for a vast sway of their customers to shove them in fat ugly cases.  

indieshack

kkqd1337 said:

It does make me laugh that Apple spend millions of dollars designing the iPhone for a vast sway of their customers to shove them in fat ugly cases.  

…otherwise the phone would slip through our fat ugly fingers. 

Apple advertising inhabits in a world where iPads and iPhones are used without cases - I’d be surprised if that use case didn’t tally with a significant minority of users, the rest of us have butter fingers. The vast majority of users won’t care squat about micro-thin bezels.

dutchlord

Who cares? Is the only innovation Apple can come up with a smaller bezel? Boring stuff.

longfang

kkqd1337 said:

It does make me laugh that Apple spend millions of dollars designing the iPhone for a vast sway of their customers to shove them in fat ugly cases.  

No case here. If it gets dinged up too bad, well that’s an excuse to get a new phone 

longfang

indieshack said:

kkqd1337 said:

It does make me laugh that Apple spend millions of dollars designing the iPhone for a vast sway of their customers to shove them in fat ugly cases.  

…otherwise the phone would slip through our fat ugly fingers. 

Apple advertising inhabits in a world where iPads and iPhones are used without cases - I’d be surprised if that use case didn’t tally with a significant minority of users, the rest of us have butter fingers. The vast majority of users won’t care squat about micro-thin bezels.

If the vast majority don’t care then the thinner bezel shouldn’t trigger them right? Meanwhile the rest like myself can appreciate the thin bezel.