Polls

Do you have faith in the future of 2:1 display ratio?

by Preslav Kateliev / Apr 25, 2017, 9:14 AM

Do you have faith in the future of 2:1 display ratio?

This year, Samsung and LG both pushed for a bit of a weird new trend in smartphones — the elongated display. In their quest to offer a larger screen in as compact a body as possible, the companies made their new flagship handsets have a 2:1 ratio, which does give us more screen real estate, but doesn't really play well with standard, widely-spread 16:9 media.

Of course, we do expect that apps that don't support the ratio will soon be updated to do so — Sammy and LG combined are too big to be ignored. And sure, some Netflix shows may be streamed in 2:1, but we don't see the tons of independent YouTube creators rushing off to change the way they film just to accommodate a weird new trend.

We are left wondering — will we see more smartphones with an elongated screen by the end of 2017? Could Apple's much-rumored-about all-screen iPhone that's supposed to come out this year follow this trend, or will Cupertino insist on sticking to 16:9? What do you think about the future of 2:1 displays?

Do you think 2:1 ratio will become more widely adopted?

Yes, probably by most major brands

54.44%

Nah, I see it being isolated to just a few brands, but most will stick to 16:9

30.27%

Nope. I am pretty sure that even Samsung and LG will consider dropping the idea by this year's end

15.29%

Options

57 Comments

1. kiko007

Posts: 7491; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

Haha... nope.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:15 AM 13

3. HomerS

Posts: 419; Member since: Sep 19, 2014

Yes phones will get bigger and bigger and the only way to accomodate this, is by reducing bezels and narrowing the display format.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:29 AM 11

5. kiko007

Which will make the display even bigger, further creating a stupefying paradox. Strange thing is, there's still a market for small phones as evidence by iPhone SE sales. Yet Android OEMs choose to completely ignore it for reasons I just can't comprehend. It's not like they can compete with Samsung selling phablets, why not give a compact phone a shot?

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:34 AM 9

9. peace247 unregistered

God this kiko guy is irritating.... Do you have a life outside iphonearena ?

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:52 AM 18

13. kiko007

Sure do... and it's probably MUCH better than your own. Also: G.O.M.D. fam

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:55 AM 0

19. sgodsell

Posts: 6855; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

Kiko007 are you showing once again how simple minded you really are? Clearly you are. There was 4000 different Android devices launched in 2016 alone. It's going to be more this year. Oh and btw there was an iPhone SE Android clone last year. Not to mention other small Android smartphones with better, and higher resolution displays, and at half the price of an iPhone SE. Some even give more storage than the iPhone SE, and still at half the price. But kiko007 you go on living in the past with the iPhone 5, or sorry now the iPhone SE. The other thing is Android can already take advantage of the screen size. Especially with Nougats split screen multitasking.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 10:52 AM 6

49. sgodsell

I just saw a new phone called jelly. It's a tiny Android 7 Nougat smartphone with 4G, 2 Sims, and expandable storage. It's actually smaller than the iPhone SE with it's 2.5" display. Look up Mr. Mobile on YouTube. The best part is that it's going for $59 USD.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 6:50 PM 0

27. htcisthebest

Posts: 434; Member since: Nov 15, 2011

I think that guy either got paid by Apple to do that or he's just an Apple franatic (aka iDiot) jealous of the Galaxy S8 design.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 2:21 PM 4

33. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

You think he gets paid? He doesn't have a job, never had a job and never will have a job.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 3:11 PM 0

30. TechieXP1969

No he frikkin doesn't. No life, no wife, no kids, no money, no job and nothing. He is a school drop out who lives at home with his parents. While he sits and pigs out on PBJ, smokes, weed and watches porn all day. I mean...I bet he looks just like this -http://www.asatrublog.com/wp-content/uploads/internet_troll_2.jpg

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 2:42 PM 2

31. Plasticsh1t

Posts: 3091; Member since: Sep 01, 2014

@techiexp1969 woah he really gets in your nerves. You need this in your life: https://imgur.com/gallery/8vXZdGM

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 2:50 PM 0

34. TechieXP1969

LOL This one is perfect for you -http://lattaland.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/plastic-man.jpg

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 3:12 PM 0

10. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

yes, and with the new aspect ratio and bezel tech you can fit a 5+inch screen on a phone the size of the SE. No more compromising screen or size.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:53 AM 2

44. Fellwalker

Posts: 521; Member since: Apr 04, 2014

You're having a laugh. There is a huge compromise in the narrowness of the screen. I can see no point in having a notional 5 inch screen that is taller than i can comfortably reach, yet so narrow that a Web page looks stupidly small. You would get more actual screen square inches by going to 4:3 with a 5 inch screen! If you want to brag about your 5 inches, that's up to you. I'd rather have a screen that is usable

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 4:42 PM 0

46. kiko007

"If you want to brag about your 5 inches..." ^This is gonna lead to a misunderstanding... a really big one at that.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 4:54 PM 1

47. Plasticsh1t

@kiko007 bro what have you done to them? They're swarming at you like flies xD

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 5:02 PM 1

48. kiko007

I guess I took a dump on their delusions of grandeur. Either that, or they're trying their hand at being tsundere. Not very good at it though.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 5:30 PM 1

51. NoToFanboys

Posts: 3231; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

That wont be the case if he don't go "Apple's knight in shining armor" on all articles.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 8:43 PM 0

52. kiko007

Lol, so they hate me for having my own set of standards instead of adhering to there own? Savage...

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:56 PM 0

53. NoToFanboys

Yup, exactly the same way you hate other fanboys that aren't on the Apple side, simple as that.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 10:21 PM 0

55. kiko007

Nah... I let people buy what they want. I also don't call people animals unless provoked. I think I'm just a bit different (and definitely more witty) than they are.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 10:51 PM 0

56. NoToFanboys

Yes you are, I wont argue with that. I'm just telling that the Apple defending part gets too much at times. Nevermind, at least you're not a hypocrite with like Mxy.

posted on Apr 26, 2017, 12:11 AM 0

18. NoToFanboys

Sony tried, and failed. Their Compact series phones were great, but people were busy buying iPhones and Galaxies.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 10:51 AM 4

37. VZWuser76

Posts: 4974; Member since: Mar 04, 2010

I think the biggest problem with the compact and mini devices of flagship phones is that they didn't just make the same phone available in a smaller size, but that they also skimped on things like the CPU, ram or onboard storage, quality of the display, etc. So people who wanted a small version of a flagship had to make compromises to have that. If they'd just used the same specs for their flagship but with a smaller display, I think you'd see more people buying the smaller phones. That's why I really liked the Pixel, the devices are identical except for the size, battery, and display resolution. If it had been like the phones I mentioned above, it would've most likely come with a SD625, storage capped a 32GB, a qHD pentile LCD display, etc. I understand the XL having a larger battery because it has a larger display and a larger shell to house a larger battery. And honestly on a 5" display, FHD is plenty for a quality picture. I also believe it has something to do with why it gets such good battery. Personally I think anything smaller than 4.5" should stick with 720p, 4.5" to 5.2" at 1080p, 5.3" to 5.8" at 2K, and 5.9" and higher at 4K. But that's just me.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 3:39 PM 1

42. razmahtaz001

Posts: 501; Member since: May 11, 2013

kiko>>> iphone sales this., iphones sales that...who else sells ios device other than apple? so ofcourse an iphone will see huge sales, especially when there is only two iphone models to choose from yearly...yes, u have a year to choose from two new models til the next new iphone comes out LOL...with android, u dont have to wait for a year...there are dozens and dozens of new android flagship (and midrange, as well as low range LOL) to choose from throughout the year... even if any android oems sells a sub 5 inch android smartphone, they wont make the kind of sales a single iphone can sell...becuase there are 100s of android smartphones to choose from every single year...compared to only two iphones annually LOL common sense says either of the two iphones that come out annually will outsell any of the 100's and 100's of android smartphones...regardless of screen size ;o)

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 4:31 PM 0

43. razmahtaz001

i forgot to add... if apple had more than 10 new iphones out annually and each sold as many or close to as many as the highest single selling iphone that year, than yes, i would be very very very impressed. just have to wait and see if this will ever happen...to see if apple can pull off single sales record with 10+ devices annually

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 4:40 PM 0

2. Bankz

Posts: 2491; Member since: Apr 08, 2016

Of course content will eventually be developed for it but its going to be a long wait tbh.. Peharps if the Iphone Edition goes that rout then it will help fasten development as developers will want to make content for anything IOS thus making 2:1 far more popular. Otherwise it will naturally catch up but it going to be a pretty long wait.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:24 AM 0

11. peace247 unregistered

True...adaptation of this ratio by apple will definitely speed up the development.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 9:54 AM 0

36. TechieXP1969

Really? Hmmm..did you notice content providers took forever to adopt Apple's crazy non-standard resolutions? Devs are going to do it nowm because devices already exist now that support it. When Apple finally catches up, the hardest part of the work willbe done already. It will just be another platform to provide it on. So far, when I watch 1440p movies, they all fit the screen. I havent needed to stretch it out. In fact so far I haven't even seen the box I seen in videos to stretch a video wider. When I go on YouTube for example, and search for a 1440p video, when it plays it fits the screen. No matter what the aspect ratio is, 1440p is still 1440p. Netflix is a different ballgame. For one, they dont have much 1440p content vs 1080p and 720p content because obviously 1080p and 720p is older.

posted on Apr 25, 2017, 3:31 PM 0

50. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

I don't see the point. These 2:1 displays are large but narrower, 16:9 is also large but wider. Some people like it, some will not. So dont shove your preference to those who won't and don't. Technology is a choice.