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, no where 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.
All totally irrelevant.
Bezels should get thinner.
Bezels have got thinner.
Notches should get thinner. They have got thinner (or moved to hole punch or pill designs). All reasonable and understandable.
It looks like Apple is going to go thinner. Great!
That's all there is to it.
No one is going to say: 'oh! Now my bezels are too thin'. Unless usage is impacted, but the bezels on my phone are described as ultra thin and there are zero usage problems so I doubt Apple will have any problems with that.
To be clear, Apple has already been shaving the bezels down. Take laptops as an example but to go to the 'world's thinnest' does not mean anything today (or the end of the year, when the new phone should be released) because you literally won't be able to see the difference in real world use. That is how far the industry has come.
Phones have been basically 'bezel-less' where it matters most (the sides) for some time already. A long time. Even top and bottom bezels aren't an issue now.
Latest generation iPhones now are more than acceptable to most people. Should they get thinner, though? Yes, of course they should. Why not?
It's just that now it doesn't matter how much thinner because we've long passed the point where it was a problem.
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.
We passed the point of usefulness on bezels back in 2017 with the idiotic notch and lack of home button on the X. We passed the point of usefulness on thickness way back in 2014 with the first protruding camera on the 6. It's only gotten worse since.
Comments
Bezels should get thinner.
Bezels have got thinner.
Notches should get thinner. They have got thinner (or moved to hole punch or pill designs). All reasonable and understandable.
It looks like Apple is going to go thinner. Great!
That's all there is to it.
No one is going to say: 'oh! Now my bezels are too thin'. Unless usage is impacted, but the bezels on my phone are described as ultra thin and there are zero usage problems so I doubt Apple will have any problems with that.
To be clear, Apple has already been shaving the bezels down. Take laptops as an example but to go to the 'world's thinnest' does not mean anything today (or the end of the year, when the new phone should be released) because you literally won't be able to see the difference in real world use. That is how far the industry has come.
Phones have been basically 'bezel-less' where it matters most (the sides) for some time already. A long time. Even top and bottom bezels aren't an issue now.
Latest generation iPhones now are more than acceptable to most people. Should they get thinner, though? Yes, of course they should. Why not?
It's just that now it doesn't matter how much thinner because we've long passed the point where it was a problem.