Sony At IFA 2017: Bezel-Less Smartphone Rumored To Launch In Berlin

Sony is currently rumored to announce a new flagship Android smartphone at IFA 2017 in Berlin. Sony’s new smartphone is said to come with a bezel-less design, which is the current trend for major smartphone makers.

This rumor can be traced back to last week when Japan Display Inc. (JDI) announced that it was going to mass produce a “Full Active LCD” display. The company said that this display would be fore smartphone that have slim bezel design “on all four display sides.” These phones will also have a screen aspect ratio of 18:9, the same aspect ratio that’s being used on the LG G6.

JDI is a conglomerate of the display divisions of Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony. A user on Weibo then claimed that Sony would be taking advantage of JDI’s new Full Active LCD display. The user said that Sony’s new smartphone will have a 6-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. This phone will apparently be announced IFA 2017 in Berlin, which kicks off on Sept. 1.

The problem here is that making a bezel-less phone seems to be contradicting Sony’s smartphone design philosophy. The Xperia XZ Premium, XZs, XA1 and the XA1 Ultra, smartphones released by Sony this year, all featured sizable top and bottom bezels, as pointed out by Phone Arena. However, the Xperia XA1 and XA1 Ultra have little to no side bezels.

An 18:9 aspect ratio also goes against what Sony has said in the past. During MWC 2017 back in March, Sony marketing director Don Mesa said that they were already happy with the standard 16:9 ratio when he was asked about the LG G6’s 18:9 ratio and the Samsung Galaxy S8’s 18.5:9 ratio.

The 16:9 aspect ratio is essential to Sony’s focus on delivering entertainment. Sony Pictures, and most other studios for that matter, heavily rely on this video format. Releasing a new Xperia smartphone with an 18:9 aspect ratio would result in undesirable letterboxing (black bars). Sony is also trying to integrate its PlayStation gaming into its Xperia phones, and having the 16:9 aspect ratio is necessary to have a sense of uniformity between its smartphone and gaming console.

If this rumor turns out to be true and Sony is indeed going to announce this kind of phone, it would awfully be surprising. But looking at the bigger picture, Sony does need to adapt if it wants to seriously compete in the smartphone market.

LG Electronics turned heads first when it announced the LG G6. Samsung followed that up with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, which arrived with a more bizarre 18.5:9 aspect ratio.

Apple is also expected to announce the iPhone 8 later this September. If the latest leaks and rumors are to be believed, the iPhone 8 will be the first iPhone to feature a bezel-less design with an aspect ratio of 18:9.