I would never buy a seven-inch iPhone. Here’s why.
Phablets might make a return, and I'm not excited.
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Title image by DIY Perks and Mrwhosetheboss - it's a 7-foot iPhone!
According to the prolific leaker Digital Chat Station, there are at least two companies that are evaluating 7-inch phones (or even bigger).
Chinese companies already have 7-inch phones, such as last year's Huawei Mate 70 Air and the TCL NxtPaper 60 Ultra, so we might make the assumption that the leak is about more popular brands such as Samsung, Motorola or maybe even Apple.
7-inch phones are downright impractical
The Huawei Mate 20 X and PhoneArena's famous crotch shot | Image by PhoneArena
That's the obvious drawback, but as obvious as it might be, people just don't realize what it's like to handle a seven-inch phone. Back in the day I had my fair share of phablet (remember this term) reviews, including some seven-inchers, such as the Huawei Mate 20 X.
In fact, the reason behind the inception of foldable phones, at least one major reason, was to make big-screen phones more practical. Flexible displays made this possible and put an end to the screen growth of conventional phones. Or at least I thought so. This takes us to the next part of the equation.
Why not get a foldable?
That's probably as thin as it gets on a foldable | Image by PhoneArena
I'm not the biggest foldable advocate out there, but having tried and tested the Honor Magic V3, a couple of Galaxy Z Fold models and the Huawei Mate X series, I can see how these would make more sense than a traditional 7-inch phone.
7-inch phones will be more fragile
The bigger the screen, the more easily damaged it becomes | Image by Fixit
As for the durability argument, conventional candy bar phones with huge displays are just as susceptible to damage as foldables. You can also make the case for foldables protecting the display while it's in a folded state.
I remember my wife cracking the screen of her Galaxy A9 (2018) by dropping her plastic hairbrush on it back in the day. This model had a 6.3-inch display, protected by Gorilla Glass 5, and yet it cracked.
The bigger the surface, the easier it is to damage it, especially when we talk about displays. When you focus the force at a small, point-like part of the display, even a plastic hairbrush can crack it.
The same goes for dropping a seven-inch monster phone. There's an increased chance to crack the display. You have to get a case and a screen protector, and even the slimmest ones would make these hypothetical 7-inch smartphones even bigger.
Do you need bigger non-folding phones, or is 6.9 inches big enough?
Are phablets going to return?
This doesn't look too comfortable... | Image by Pinterest
Big-screen phones kind of killed the small 7- and 8-inch tablets. Are we going to see another resurgence of the so-called phablet in the years to come? That's an interesting question. Tablets are now more or less under house arrest most of the time, serving their Netflix sentence or roleplaying a recipe book in the kitchen.
Super-big screen phones are stepping on too many toes, so to speak. You have all the foldables that are still more practical. You have the home tablets with their even bigger screens, which you don't need to carry around with you all the time.
But those two companies allegedly tinkering with the idea of a seven-plus-inch phone might know something I don't. What do you think about it? Do you need bigger non-folding phones, or is 6.9 inches big enough?
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