Since the beginning of 2017, smartphone manufacturers have been pushing for narrow-bezel displays. Samsung was one of the first ones to utilise this trend by narrowing the bezels on their flagship S8 and later the Note 8. Apple answered back Samsung with a similar narrow bezel display on their flagship iPhone X. However, Apple’s solution of putting a notch within the display area for housing all the sensors wasn’t received positively by tech enthusiasts. It seems that Samsung has a solution to the issue.
A recently uncovered patent filed by Samsung shows a new implementation of a full-screen display on a smartphone. The new arrangement opts for all the sensors embedded under the display, thus making for a full-screen display experience. The patent shows the smartphone utilising an under-the-display fingerprint sensor, which doubles up as the home button. All the other sensors such as the front camera, proximity sensors and the earpiece are shown embedded in the display. Samsung also mentions the requirement of a pressure-sensitive display as found on present-day Apple iPhones. The patent also shows no bezels around, thus making it possible to achieve a 100 per cent screen-to-body ratio.
We have seen several similar patents showing new technologies that often don’t make it to the production version of a smartphone. However, Samsung’s foldable smartphone, dubbed by some as the Galaxy X, is expected to show up either sometime this year or early next year. A full-screen arrangement on a folding smartphone will certainly help efficient utilisation of space, maximising the surface area of the screen.
