I just had the pleasure of playing around with the first truly zero-bezel phone prototype in the world. Compared to the very thin-bezel phones we currently have, I don’t think it makes for a night and day difference, but this type of design sure comes across as forward-looking. I think there’s enough in it that mainstream manufacturers should at least give it a try and see if it works.
Tech companies have long been on a crusade to eliminate screen bezels, which I generally consider a win for humanity. Not only does a “bezel-less” look deliver a clean, futuristic look, but also allows a manufacturer to fit a larger display in the same footprint.
Tecno's zero-bezel prototype roughtly resembles the shape of a Galaxy S24 Plus. | Image by PhoneArena
But even though there was a point in time when we were routinely calling phones “bezel-less”, the reality is they weren’t and still aren’t completely bezel-less.
This probably isn’t such a big problem, but one has to ask – what if a phone has a truly zero-bezel design? What would it look like? Would it enhance the user experience somehow?
Tecno, a company that first made a splash with its extremely thin Spark Slim phone prototype last year at MWC, is now chasing the spotlight again with a new prototype, only this time – of a truly bezel-free phone.
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The thing is, this new prototype actually feels and works largely like a finished product. During my hands-on session with the Tecno zero-bezel phone, it was perfectly operational and created the impression that such a product might, indeed, be released on the market at any point now.
Again, I don’t think the lack of any black bezel around the display improves usability in any way, except for the aforementioned potential of stuffing an even larger display within the same frame, but I can definitely say that it looks cool.
The Tecno zero-bezel phone, especially with its cleverly picked silver aluminum frame, does look like a product from the future, as the screen makes direct contact with the silver frame and appears less restrained than ever.
What about iPhone and Galaxy? Will they become truly bezel-less at some point?
The silver frame adds just enough of a border for the screen to be its own thing, separate from the surrounding environment. | Image by PhoneArena
Naturally, I asked myself if Apple or Samsung would, at some point, transition their flagships to such a completely bezel-less look, and I think they might do just that, but only after careful, long-term internal testing.
Who knows, there may be hidden issues that we aren't aware of just yet. After all, nobody has really used a phone like this so far. A lot of user feedback needs to be gathered before either Apple or Samsung would clear such a design for their mainstream flagships.
Speaking of which, the iPhone Pro and the Galaxy S Ultra lines seem like the prime candidates for adopting a zero-bezel design first.
On the Apple side, I’d bet a small amount that Apple would first introduce such a design (when it becomes viable) on its iPhone Pro line. Why? Because the Pro is a high-end iPhone that’s supposed to get the latest hardware and design innovations, unlike the base iPhone, which moves a generation behind design-wise.
Ah, fascinating... | Image by PhoneArena
Depending on when manufacturers decide to jump on the bezel-less bandwagon, the foldable iPhone Ultra might also skip the first generation of bezel-less design, as the foldable structure brings complexities of its own, so I don’t think Apple would be in a hurry to make things even more complicated.
On the Samsung side, I think it makes sense for Samsung to introduce such a design first on the Galaxy Ultra series, for similar reasons as with Apple. It’s just that for Samsung, the Galaxy Ultra is roughly the equivalent of Apple’s Pro Max. At this point though, I don't think there have been solid rumours regarding either company moving to zero-bezel over the course of the next one or two generations, at least.
Keep in mind that even though Tecno is the first company to show us a working zero-bezel prototype phone, that doesn’t mean that it’ll be the first company to release a finished product on the market. Tecno is simply testing the waters to see if it’d be worth it to invest in making this a commercial product.
That said, kudos to Tecno for producing another bold concept and actually succeeding in attracting some of the spotlight. That’s not an easy thing to do in today’s ultra-competitive and saturated phone market.
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Rad Slavov is the Editor-in-Chief at PhoneArena. He joined the media in 2008, right on the cusp of the modern smartphone revolution. Through time and perseverance, he amassed a great deal of knowledge and industry know-how, allowing him to guide and organize the company's growing line-up of talented content creators and ever-expanding content portfolio.
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