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Can you remember which manufacturer made a phone with a 21:9 display before Sony?

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By Alan Friedman

Published: Feb 18, 2019, 8:26 PM

Over the last couple of years, smartphones have gone from carrying a 16:9 aspect ratio to screens as tall and thin as 19:9. For those who have been wondering what this aspect ratio is all about, it simply is a ratio measuring the width to the height of a screen. The higher the first number, the taller and thinner the display on a handset. And Sony is expected to unveil three new phones that sport an aspect ratio of 21:9 (the budget Xperia L3 model will reportedly feature an 18:9 ratio).

Many of you out there might figure that the trio of Sony handsets with the 21:9 aspect ratio are breaking new ground; after all, such a tall and thin screen has never been tried before on a handset, right? Wrong. Some of you might remember the LG Chocolate BL40, which was a touchscreen feature phone released in 2009. It offered a 4-inch display with a resolution of 345 x 800, a far cry from the 1440 x 3360 resolution expected on the Xperia XZ4.

So why use an aspect ratio of 21:9 on a phone. Well, in landscape the result is a more cinematic display perfect for viewing streamed movies and television shows. And with the large 6.5-inch AMOLED display expected on Sony's 2019 top-of-the-line-smartphone, we can imagine how great Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu content will look on the phone.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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