Sony rumored to announce a bezel-less flagship at IFA 2017

If this turns out to be correct, it would mark a huge turn in Sony's design philosophy. Many of the company's competitors have recently opted to trim down the bezels of their flagships, but you certainly won't find that on any 2017 Sony phone released to this date. The Xperia XZ Premium, XZs, XA1, and XA1 Ultra all sport sizeable bezels on the top and bottom, although the latter two don't have bezels on the side. 

We're not too sure on whether to deem this rumor as credible or totally false. On one side, Sony’s marketing director Don Mesa did say that the company is perfectly content with the 16:9 ratio at this year's MWC. Furthermore, the firm's entertainment division Sony Pictures currently relies on the 16:9 format, so it wouldn't be a smart idea to make a device that will letterbox all Sony movies and games.

However, Japan Display Inc., a conglomerate of the display divisions of Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi, actually did announce that it will start a mass production of a "Full Active LCD display which has a slim bezel design on all four display sides, and a display aspect ratio of 18:9 for smartphone devices" less than two weeks ago. As both Apple and Samsung are set to launch premium smartphones with an "all-screen" design in Q3 2017, it makes perfect sense for the Japanese manufacturer to try and respond accordingly.