What you should know
- Samsung pioneered curved smartphone displays with the Galaxy Round in 2013 and Galaxy Note Edge in 2014, but the company’s upcoming Galaxy S24 lineup appears to be moving away from this trend.
- While curved screens were once considered a premium feature, their widespread adoption by other smartphone manufacturers, including affordable Chinese brands, has diminished their uniqueness.
- Despite Samsung’s move away from curved displays, other major smartphone manufacturers, particularly Chinese brands, continue to embrace this design feature.
- New trends in smartphone design include folding displays, thinner display borders, premium materials such as titanium and leather, larger camera bumps, and increased focus on repairability due to the Right To Repair movement.
Full Story
Samsung was the first to introduce curved smartphone displays with the Galaxy Round in 2013 and the Galaxy Note Edge in 2014. Curved screens were new, visually appealing, and quickly gained popularity, especially after the launch of the Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015.
Soon, other companies, including LG, Motorola, OnePlus, Google, Huawei, and Xiaomi, hopped on the curved screen bandwagon. My first curved-screen phone was the Huawei P30 Pro.
Fast forward to today, Samsung’s soon-to-be-released Galaxy S24 lineup appears to be saying goodbye to the curved display trend. Yet, Chinese flagships and even affordable phones seem to be all-in on curved screens, creating an interesting conundrum.
Why are some companies and people just now getting their first curved-display phones while Samsung is ready to let them go? Was the experiment successful? Are curved screens gradually going to fade away into oblivion?
Samsung’s decision to use flat displays across the entire Galaxy S24 lineup suggests the most original part of their flagship phones is no longer special.
I don’t really care about the “curved vs flat display” debate. As long as a curved screen has good palm-rejection and doesn’t mean the display borders are uneven, I’m all for it. I love that phones with curved displays feel noticeably narrower than phones with flat screens.
Curved displays were considered a design feature that made phones look and feel premium. However, this effect started wearing off when more affordable Chinese phones started using them.
If only a few premium flagship phones have curved screens, this makes them special. But if all smartphones have curved displays, they’re no longer “special”.
Flagships like the Galaxy S24, iPhone 15, and Pixel 8 now come with flat displays. However, other flagship phones seem to stick to curved screens.
Fashion is a big thing in the world of phones, and smartphone trends come and go. Premium flagship phones available in the US, UK, and Europe are now moving away from curved displays. However, the opposite is true for premium flagship phones from China.
The OnePlus 12 is the exception in this list, since it’s considered a major globally-available flagship, which has a curved display. That being said, OnePlus is still very much a Chinese brand run by BBK, so that’s not really surprising.
Curved screens are no longer exclusive to premium flagship phones. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
Samsung may have pioneered curved smartphone screens, but it now faces a lot of competition in the global display panel scene. Still, Samsung Display manages to capture nearly half of the display market worldwide.
The curved display revolution was a resounding success. However, Samsung’s decision to leave them behind suggests they were never an essential part of the Galaxy.
Curved screens helped make flagship phones more attractive and narrower, which made them easier to hold with one hand. However, it’s 2024 now, and we’ve moved on to greater design changes and hardware challenges in the world of smartphones.
New trends in smartphone design include more and better folding displays, thinner display borders, premium materials, and even more intimidating camera bumps.
Repairability will also be a huge focal point for phones in 2024 and beyond. With the Right To Repair movement and legislations picking up pace in the EU and the rest of the world, how phones are designed on the inside will soon be more important than ever.
Is this why the Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t have a curved display? I don’t think so. But I guess only Samsung knows the exact answer to this question.
So, which was your first phone with a curved display?
