Samsung, Oppo, and other manufacturers are making more and more phones with curved displays, and that’s a trend that should stop. Curved screens are more fragile, less compatible with cases, and don’t provide features worth the problems they introduce.
Blame Samsung—it started the curved screen trend with the Galaxy Note Edge. Back then, the phone had only one curved edge, which made it an extremely odd phone. But they improved on it with each new model, and now the Galaxy S and Note series are known for curved screens.
Other manufacturers followed suit, from OnePlus phones to Huawei’s P30, to Google’s Pixel 2 and to a lesser extent Pixel 3, and just recently Oppo’s newly announced “waterfall” phone. Oppo is taking the curved screen idea even further by wrapping the screen nearly all way around to the back. At first glance, it’s pretty. But when you think things through, curved phone screens are a terrible idea.
Curved Screens Are Fragile
Admittedly, all “bezel-less” phones are fragile and prone to breakage from dropping. But curved screens exemplify that fact. The extended screen naturally means more glass area to fall on and crack, and less structure to take a fall. And according to iFixit, curved displays are more challenging to build and replace, making repairs more expensive.
SquareTrade performs drop tests of phones, and while they say S9 and S10 are more durable than S8 was, they still break the phones in a single drop. And being a curved screen, it can be harder to get a grip on as the device is thinner at the edges, so you may be more prone to drop your phone.
In the case of the Oppo “waterfall” screen, you can’t hold the phone from the sides without touching the display. So it seems likely you’ll run into issues with the screen slipping from your fingers or even putting it into a case.
Cases And Screen Protectors Don’t Fit as Well
Cases, alas, are also part of the problem with curved phone displays. Most cases work by grabbing onto the edges of the phone’s bezel to keep your screen visible. But a curved screen means less bezel for grabbing. That leaves case makers in the precarious position of choosing to either grab onto very little material or cover your screen.
You can see this issue even more with thin cases, which often can feel like they’re barely hanging on to the phone. And since they do grab what the small amount of bezel available, the screen can rise above the edges of the case. Thus, when dropped face down the phone may as well not have a case on at all.
If you like to have a screen protector on your phone, you’re going to regret that curved display as well. Making a plastic or glass piece that adheres to a flat surface is simple. But gluing plastic and tempered glass to a curved surface is much more difficult.
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Source : Curved Phone Displays Make No Sense
