The real iPhone X screen area vs iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, video binge edition
Zoom-to-fill in YouTube on the iPhone X cuts out quite a lot of the scene
| Apple iPhone X | Apple iPhone 8 | Apple iPhone 8 Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen area | ~12.7 sq. in. (extracting the notch and corners) | ~9.63 sq. in. | ~13.06 sq. in. |
| Screen area standard video | ~10.93 sq.in. | ~9.63 sq. in. | ~13.06 sq. in. |
| Screen area standard video in chopped compatibility mode | ~12.7 sq. in. (extracting the notch and corners) | n/a | n/a |
The usable area of the iPhone X display is akin to a standard ratio phone with 5.4" diagonal, which is about what the 8 Plus offers, explaining the numbers above. Needless to say, the X is a much smaller phone overall, so that's its added value here. If you want to see a standard definition video in its entirety, though, the iPhone X's usable area shrinks to the one of a standard aspect phone with a 5" diagonal or so - only 12% higher than the iPhone 8, in fact, and 16% less than what the 8 Plus has to offer as screen area while watching video.
Blowing up he picture with either the YouTube app's zoom-to-fill option, or the iPhone X's own double-tap full screen mode in, say, Netflix, will take away of the footage not only in the notch area, but also will crop the sides down to the screen's aspect ratio.
Something similar is happening on other phones with the trendy tall and narrow screen aspect ratio, like the Galaxy S8, but the viewable area there remains larger relative to the total, as there are no "horns" to chip into the footage at full screen. If the movie or TV series are shot in the 2:1 Univisium format, though, the power shifts to iPhone X, yet these are still few and far between (sigh, Kevin Spacey all but killed House of Cards). What do you think, are you annoyed by the notch when watching video on your iPhone X, or did you already get used to the cuts?
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