Comfortable iPhone 5 Screen Size

Legend says that size of the iPhone's screen is chosen to fit perfectly average female hand. As there are more and more rumours about larger screen, I wondered how large screen can be squeezed in the case of the same size.

Screen coverage

I took data about couple of phones from GSM Arena. Then I calculated how big is the front size of the phone and how large portion is filled by screen. I also added couple of imaginary iPhones with different screen sizes. Here is what I got:

Phone	Diagonal	Ratio	Screen/front	Bezel
	[inch]			[mm]
iPhone 4s	3,5	3:2	54%	4,6
	3,9	3:2	67%	1,8
	3,9	16:9	62%	5,0
Galaxy Nexus S	4,0	15:9	58%	5,4
Samsung Galaxy Ace	3,5	3:2	54%	5,3
Samsung Galaxy S II	4,3	15:9	64%	5,0
Samsung Galaxy S III	4,8	16:9	66%	5,4
Samsung Galaxy Note	5,3	16:10	67%	5,8

Phone with the largest surfaces covered by screen are Samsung Galaxy Note and S III, with 67% and 66% respectively. Doesn't sound too much? Shift lower area to the top, add bezel and you will get a lot of non-screen surface. As both phones have similar layout as iPhone, I took that percentage as reference. iPhone's screen covers only 54% of the phone's face. With current iPhone screen ratio, there is not much room to grow; 3.9" screen will cover 67%.

What's that bezel thing?

4:3 3.9" looked good until I added bezel into equation. Thin border around the screen is not there just for mechanical reasons; it also prevents accidental touches by your palm when you reach for that far other side of the screen. On most phones it is around 5 millimeters; with larger screen it will be just 1.8. 4:3 is a no go. I got so carried away with with screen/front ratio that I missed real limiting factor: phone width. But all is not lost: with 16:9 screen bezel grows to comfy 5 mm. 3.9" iPhone now looks like a viable option, doesn't it? Check this excellent mock up to see how it would look like.

What about HD?

What you probably won't see is HD iPhone. Even with Retina high pixel density it is not enough for HD 720p resolution; 4.55" would be needed. Or maybe we will? Screen would need > 360 PPI, and Toshiba has screen with exactly that density. Should we? Most people will not see the difference anyway, and phone would need even faster graphical processor.

But that's not most interesting part

Whatever happens, for hard-core Apple fans, practical aspect of screen size will be less important. They will divide in two camps:

• Anything except 3.5" is blasphemy. That wouldn't happen if Jobs were still alive. Boycott 4"!
• Apple now prescribes 4" screen and they gave us perfectly good explanation why is 4" new 3.5". We love 4"!

If you feel cold, I'm sure you'll enjoy upcoming iPhone screen size flame wars!