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Chart shows how much of your iPhone is actually display

smartphone-screen-real-estate

Have you ever wondered how much of your phone is actually screen? That is, how much of your phone is usable screen real estate in relation to the overall size the device? The chart above from @somospostpc shows you exactly that for some of the most popular devices from LG, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Motorola and Apple. The LG G2 comes out on top at 75.7% display compared to 60% and below for the current lineup of iPhones.

Apple is at a disadvantage because of the home button/Touch ID  rather than the on screen buttons of Android. Also, the iPhone is symmetric meaning the same big bezel on the bottom is needed at the top so that the screen sits in the exact middle of the phone.

If the rumors are true, we could start to see manufacturers try to increase screen real estate by eliminating even more of the bezel. In Apple’s case, that would likely require eliminating the home button and moving the TouchID sensor under the glass.

 

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Comments

  1. robertvarga79 - 10 years ago

    Nexus 5!

  2. acslater017 - 10 years ago

    My iPhone 5 is a beautiful device, but I do feel like there’s room for aesthetic improvement. A lot of my iPhone’s face is indeed white plastic (glass?). The left and right bezels are especially prominent when I’m viewing something.The placement of the earpiece, proximity sensor, and iSight camera could be better aligned or hidden. Then again most of my complaints would be solved by choosing a space gray one :P

  3. tomtubbs - 10 years ago

    For a fixed bezel thickness, the percentage would be smaller for larger screens. (Eg compare an iPad Air to an iphone). Don’t you need to compare like sized screens ?

    • rrobinson1216 - 10 years ago

      Not really – you could calculate it on any screen. Though on some androids the percentage could be lower because of software buttons that aren’t actually ‘usable screen real estate’.

      • rrobinson1216 - 10 years ago

        Edit – What I also meant to put in there was that they don’t use a fixed bezel thickness in those calculations.

  4. nwama - 10 years ago

    Does this numbers are divided by the phone size?

  5. jlword - 10 years ago

    Loving my Lumia 1520! 6″Display and ranks high on chart at 71.2. Great job Nokia.
    love my 1020 as coming in at 4.5″ and a much lower ranking in the chart at 59.8%. Its still the camera phone to beat though.
    JLTechWord.wordpress com

  6. Vida András - 10 years ago

    Fraud post. Calculated my iPhone 5 and its 67%. Some Samsung scum made this chart

    • Mr. Sommerer - 10 years ago

      What numbers did you use? I have a 5s that is 124mm x 59mm with a screen size of 88mm x 50mm (more or less). That gives about 60%. I ignored the fact that it’s not a rectangle, so the actual screen to front percentage would be slightly larger.

    • thejuanald - 10 years ago

      You are incorrect. Also, you’re a scumbag

  7. greenbelt2csp - 10 years ago

    This calculation is how much of the phone’s front is glass, not screen. Won’t change the iPhones much, but would change the androids. Also, I’m pretty sure this calculation assumes a square front profile, so they are underestimating the % of all phones with rounded corners…

    • Matthew Bryan - 10 years ago

      greenbelt, can you please clarify? The article is clearly comparing the amount of Screen to the “entire device” (although they probably just mean the front). It doesn’t mention glass comparison anywhere, and some of those devices don’t even have glass on the front. Im pretty sure that >95% of my iPhone 5s’ front is glass, while would argue that obviously more than 60% is screen real estate (agreeing with Vida). It seems like a skewed chart.

  8. Jurgis Ŝalna - 10 years ago

    They could entire screen clickable, like a trackpad.

  9. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    “Apple is at a disadvantage because of the home button/Touch ID rather than the on screen buttons of Android”

    LMAO. uh…no.

    “If the rumors are true…eliminating the home button and moving the TouchID sensor under the glass.”

    Is this 9to5mac or Digitimes?

    Worst article in a long time. Just awful.

    • thejuanald - 10 years ago

      How is that “LMAO. uh…no”? In the context of this article, Apple is at a disadvantage. You’re right up there with tallestskil as the worst poster on this, or any other site.

  10. I love visiting this site on a regular basis to ‘keep up’, however, I simply cannot believe that I clicked ‘read more’

  11. Pierre Calixte - 10 years ago

    This is a stupid chart causing people to make meaningless comparisons.

    If you notice the larger the screen the higher the percentage. And that’s because the larger the screen the more guts/internals you can hide behind it allowing you to shrink the surrounding bezel. It’s an inherent advantage to larger screens.

    In general, to accommodate the internals, it’s much easier to increase the bezel than it is to try to shrink the internals.

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.