Last month Apple withdrew the iPhone SE of the third generation, marking the unceremonious end of compact mainstream smartphones. Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo/OnePlus and Vivo, Four largest Android smartphone manufacturers have not released a single phone with a 5.5 -inch display or smaller in the last three years, according to GSMArena data.
What next with small smartphones? Do we have a chance to return?
There are still several niche companies working on smaller devicessuch as Unhertz, but these phones almost always have low equipment class and limited software support. Eric Migicovsky, founder of the Smartwatch Pebble, announced in 2022 plans to create a compact telephone from Androidthis project is currently suspended.
How did we go to large phones?
To answer it questionwe must go back to 2011. This is the year in which the first Samsung Galaxy Note appeared with a 5.3-inch display and S Pen stylus. The Galaxy Note was not an extremely gigantic phone at that time-the 5-inch model from the Dell Streak series overtook the Galaxy Note by more than a year-but was a significant departure from most mainstream smartphones and was heavily advertised. It was even said that he was closer to the tablet than to the phone. There were also rumors that holding him at the face to call will cause laughter. The phone, however, won many fans, and other producers went with this current.
Giant phones were definitely absurd at the beginning, now many can not imagine returning to smaller models
However, there were benefits from comical large housing. The touch keyboards worked much better with larger screens, placing another nail in the BlackBerry style coffin with physical keyboards. The larger screen was also better to read websites and books, watch movies and play games. I suspect that the battery life was the main reason why large phones became so popular. Now people choose large screens instead of smaller ones, and producers are not profitable to invest in small smartphones. However, folding smartphones appeared on the market that will fit into the smallest pocket.