Why can curved screens replace straight screens and become the symbol of high-end phones?

As a practitioner in the digital industry, I can tell you responsibly that from the user's perspective, the user experience of a curved screen is definitely not as good as a straight screen, and the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The reasons are as follows:

1. Curved screens are more fragile during use and have higher repair costs.

This is a side view of a phone with a curved screen and a phone with a straight screen.

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Huawei Mate 40 Pro

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iPhone 12

As you can see, the curved screen has no protection on the left and right sides of the screen, and is completely suspended above the middle frame. Once it hits the ground sideways, it is very easy to break the screen. On the other hand, the screen of a traditional straight-screen phone is either flush with the middle frame or has a circle of plastic brackets for protection, so it is not easy to break the screen even if it hits the ground sideways.

Moreover, due to the special shape of the curved screen, it is difficult to find a fully covered tempered film that matches it, and the phone case of a curved screen phone is impossible to cover the screen part. As long as the angle of the drop is not careful, the screen will still break.

In contrast, as long as a straight-screen phone is covered with a tempered film and a phone case, there is basically no risk of a broken screen. I have an iPhone 12 and an OPPO Find X2 Pro, and the number of times they have been dropped is similar. The X2 Pro has a broken screen, while the iPhone 12 is flawless.

Moreover, the after-sales repair cost of a curved screen is significantly higher than that of a straight screen. You will know it once you get one repaired. For screens of similar quality, the repair cost of a curved screen is more than twice that of a straight screen (unofficial screen). If you buy a curved screen phone without screen breakage insurance, you will be really worried.

2. Curved screens are more prone to accidental touches and disconnection.

Due to the shape of the curved screen, when playing games in full screen, if the hand slides down too low, the touch will be disconnected, because it will trigger the anti-mistouch mechanism set by the manufacturer, resulting in the problem of disconnected touch. Anyone who has used a curved screen phone should have felt this. In addition, the curved screen is more prone to accidental touches, especially when held in one hand, the protruding part of the lumbrical muscle at the bottom of the thumb will cause accidental touches due to touching the curved area. Although the current anti-mistouch mechanism is very good, it still cannot be completely avoided.

3. Green edge problem

As long as it is a mobile phone with a curved screen, the problem of green edges cannot be avoided, it’s just a matter of whether it is serious or not. This is determined by physical properties, especially against a solid color background, it is more obvious.

As for the advantages of curved screens, there is actually only one - "enhancing the sense of refinement", because the curved screen will artificially create a high-gloss reflective strip, and will visually compress the screen frame to a place that is invisible to the human eye, thereby visually reducing the existence of the screen frame and making the screen ratio of the phone higher. As shown in the figure below, this is a front comparison between Xiaomi 11 and iPhone 12. The curved screen shape of Xiaomi 11 is indeed more outstanding in terms of front visual effect.

However, the advantages of curved screens are limited to this at present. The curved control function that originally existed on Samsung's curved screen phones has been completely abandoned. The current curved screen is completely for appearance and has no functional expansion. Samsung is currently gradually abandoning curved screens.

So why do mobile phone manufacturers still like to use curved screens? Everything is based on "marketing" considerations.

It has always been high-end Android phones that use curved screens. This is because if Android wants to compete with the iPhone, it must have a differentiated advantage that Apple does not have, and curved screens are a good direction. Back then, the Samsung S6 series did win a lot of market share from the iPhone with its curved screen design.

Moreover, the curved screen can greatly reduce the difficulty in body design. It is very difficult to create a sense of refinement on a straight screen mobile phone, which requires a lot of innovation and investment. For example, the COP packaging technology was first commercialized on the iPhone X. But the curved screen does not need this. As long as the curved screen is used, the phone will have a certain sense of refinement, which is as easy to use as a universal formula.

The number of curved screen phones will decrease in the future.

According to the news released by Zhan Ge, in 2022, there will be more and more flagships equipped with straight screens, so everyone can look forward to it.