Slew of Bezel-less Phones Expected to Hit Shelves as New Trend

An increase in bezel-less smartphones which minimize edges of smartphone screens is on the rise. A forecast is strengthening that Samsung Electronics and Apple will adopt bezel-less displays in the 'Galaxy S8' and the 'iPhone 8', which will be launched next year following Huawei, which will launch 'Bezelis smartphone' this month. Under these circumstances, people are paying attention to whether or not bezel-less smartphones will be a hot issue in the market next year.

Huawei plans to unveil its new product, “Honor Magic” on December 16, according to the foreign news media and blogs on December 13. A leaked picture of the Honor Magic shows that the bezel at the top and bottom of the screen is minimized. Foreign news media among others are forecasting that a bezel-less design will be used in the Honor Magic. In addition, it is predicted that the Honor Magic will feature fingerprint scan technology and enhanced battery technology.

After Xiaomi surprised the market with a bezel-less smartphone, it is expected that bezel-less smartphones will be launched on a full scale by major makers. The 'MiMix' released in October by Xiaomi, was priced at 500,000 to the latter half of the 600,000 won level, which is the highest price among Xiaomi products and its display covers over 90% of its front.

Bloomberg and others are expecting Samsung to adopt a Bezel-less display in the Galaxy S8. In addition, they expect that the new model will not have a home button on the front. Huawei’s Honor Magic with a curved surface has a design similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Edge so differences in the two products’ designs will be the focus of attention as well.
Apple's "iPhone 8" also has a big possibility of becoming a bezel-less smartphone. Overseas experts including those at Barclays Securities expect Apple to adopt a bezel-less display with no corners in the iPhone 8.

Smartphone industry experts say that bezel-less smartphones will be like a bridge to foldable smartphones expected to become mainstream smartphones in the future. Market research firm Ubi Research predicts that the percentage of full-screen OLED panels with minimized or eliminated bezels will grow to 60% of the total flexible AMOLED panel market by 2020 from 17% next year.