Please visit the updated report for mid 2016

While the major smartphone manufacturers compete at the top end with ever-increasing screens, Sony has just recently bucked the trend by launching the Xperia Z1 Compact. A top end powerhouse with “only” a 4.3″ screen (which would have been a top of the line phone size just 2 years ago) it’s the first time in many years that there is a real alternative top end smartphone to the iPhone 5S.

But while most are focused on screen size, weight, and thickness of the device, something that is often overlooked is the screen-to-body ratio of a phone which is an essential ratio to express the usability of the phone. Screen-to-body is measured as the percentage of the front surface of a phone that is taken up by the screen. I have compiled a list of the more popular phones, sorted by ratio in descending order.

What are some of my findings?

Android offers it all…. and LG is the king of screens

• Phablets with their 5.5″ and larger screens obviously have a geometrical advantage so that they dominate the above 70% club.
• LG overall offers phones with the highest size-to-screen ratio with the LG G2, G Flex and Optimus G Pro
• Sony generally has a worse than average ratio for all Android phones

Nokia makes Windows Phones bezel-heavy

• Windows Phones generally have a lower screen-to-body ratio which is due to Nokia’s unibody design philosophy which has extremely large bezels all around the screen.

Screen-to-Body ratios are increase, but Apple doesn’t care

• Screen-to-body ratios have increased significantly over the last years which can be demonstrated on the Samsung Note line of devices:
  • Galaxy Note 1: 63.5%
  • Galaxy Note 2: 68.6%
  • Galaxy Note 3: 74.8%
• Apple really hasn’t followed this trend and offers some of the lowest screen-to-body ratios around. The screen of the iPhone 5/5S merely covers 60.8% of the front of the phone. Still, quite an improvement over the 47% of the iPhone 3GS

Please note that the below ratios are not super accurate as they don’t take into account that devices with more rounded edges have a smaller front surface area overall.