Apple's First Bezel-Free iPhone Unlikely to Be Ready for 2026 Launch

[Lioness~]

A bezel-free mini - I see you.

 

[antiprotest]

So, does that mean we will keep tapping the edge of screen all the time?

It is almost a certainty. Then after several years they will add bezels back, increasingly big year after year, as a feature, like they're doing with buttons now.

 

[steve09090]

Why is Macrumors so focused on bezel-free phones?

Agree. No one actually cares

 

[green_diyos]

Why is Macrumors so focused on bezel-free phones?

It's something new... some people upgrade based on aesthetics.

I have a 2024 iPhone 16 Pro Max and I am scheduled to get the 2026 iPhone... I am sad I won't get the 1st bezel-free iPhone. :-(

 

[CharlesShaw]

Not sure why Apple has an obsession with shaving a 1/4mm of bezel off the iPhone every year.

Hehe, I think the obsession belongs to those earning a living by guessing what Apple is obsessed with.

 

[Sippincider]

How would a no-bezel design work with cases?

Service industry here, and we need the Otter cases. More than we need to be immersed in aesthetics...

 

[SanderEvers]

Not a gimmick at all. It offers massive immersion and aesthetic.

The camera control is a gimmick. A full screen phone is not a gimmick. It makes the phone look a million times better and the screen pulls the user in even more due to the maximized immersion.

You describe exactly what a gimmick is. Pointless, expensive, unneeded. Camera control is also a gimmick, I didn't say it wasn't.

Also "it makes the phone look a million times better" is very subjective. Because after you use it for about 2 seconds all your fingerprints will be on the screen. Luckily Apple also sells $20 microfibre cloths.

Honestly the only physical changes I want are:
1. A bigger battery.
2. No more camera island.
3.5 mm port for audio.

 

[CharlesShaw]

How would a no-bezel design work with cases?

Service industry here, and we need the Otter cases.

Many current cases already leave the entire screen exposed next to a protruding edge, but if/when the time comes, case makers will find a way to sell you a rugged case that works.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Anyone with any intelligence knows that the screen is strictly for immersion on the extreme edge.

You shut off touch sensitivity for the entire 1/8” of border. It is strictly for immersion. There would be zero ‘accidental touches’ because it does not register touch at all.

While not all iPhones are used with a case, many (probably the majority) are. From what I’ve observed, many cases require use of a small lip over the edges of the phone to stay on securely. The point is, a portion of that space that you say will not be sensitive is also covered by cases, so expanding the screen to the very edge of the device is a waste for many users anyway.

Not a gimmick at all. It offers massive immersion and aesthetic.

The camera control is a gimmick. A full screen phone is not a gimmick. It makes the phone look a million times better and the screen pulls the user in even more due to the maximized immersion.

Whether zero-bezel makes a phone look better is a highly subjective determination, and even without a case, most people hold their phones while using them, typically overlapping some of the edge and effectively killing whatever added “immersion” you think is there.

If this turns out to be true, it just strikes me as a pointless exercise on Apple’s part. It’s not like current and potential iPhone owners will decide to not buy one in droves if Apple keeps current bezel design.

 

[3xBoom]

Bezel-free, you say... so no phone cover for even a minimal protection? waste of time, energy and resources. hard pass. chucking the dynamic/static island should the priority. Making phones lighter should be also high up there. They are like frigging bricks being so heavy. Oh, and how about dropping prices below $500 US for the top tier lineup?

 

[citysnaps]

Bezels on recent iPhones are so small (such as on the 16 PM I have) they just aren't a biggie any more to get worked up about. The tiny case lip covers them up.

They're insignificant, a nothing burger.

 

[cjsuk]

Agree. No one actually cares

I care. I need something to get hold of and it's in a case with a fat lip anyway so it doesn't get smashed so I'd rather not have a bezel free phone!

 

[orev]

This was basically the vision for iPhone from the very start:

Jony believed the iPhone would be all about the screen. In their earliest discussions, the designers agreed that nothing should detract from the screen, which Jony likened to an “infinity pool,” those high-end swimming pools with an invisible edge.

[...]

“Some of our early discussions about the iPhone centered on this idea of… this infinity pool, this pond, where the display would sort of magically appear.”

That is very much out of context. We already have the phone he described and have had it for years. At that time, phones were either half keypad (number buttons) or half keyboards (physical Blackberry), and the screens did not have any touch capability. The huge leap of the iPhone was to remove all that stuff and make the phone have only a screen. And that screen already "magically disappears", as when it turns off it blends in with the rest of the front glass.

 

[Ramchi]

So, the slogan Bezels are cool going to go away ?

 

[nottorp]

Dear Mr Cook... please take your dried frog pills in time.

What's the point of an extremely thin phone if you make it so fragile that people have to put it in a large ugly case?

 

[RUptown]

Not a gimmick at all. It offers massive immersion and aesthetic.

The camera control is a gimmick. A full screen phone is not a gimmick. It makes the phone look a million times better and the screen pulls the user in even more due to the maximized immersion.

All true, but I still don't want it. I value a case and the protection it offers over zero-bezel.

 

[daniesy]

I first read "notchless" and got happy for a moment there...

 

[Octavius8]

So a foldable phone seems on plán for the next decade?.
Apple is pathetic now

 

[ifxf]

Be prepared to always accidentally scroll to the top of any page you are using.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

So the edge of the screen remains unresponsive? Then it's just a gimmick, and not needed.

In case you haven't noticed, most new iPhone "innovations" lately are just gimmicks.

 

[Admiral Fart]

Not a gimmick at all. It offers massive immersion and aesthetic.

The camera control is a gimmick. A full screen phone is not a gimmick. It makes the phone look a million times better and the screen pulls the user in even more due to the maximized immersion.

You’re just regurgitating marketing speak. What does “maximized immersion” even mean, and why is it important for a phone? When you’re sending texts or using Maps, do you notice that there’s a tiny black border around the phone? Do you spend a lot of time staring at your phone, annoyed by the tiny black border? If so, that’s something that should be discussed with a therapist.

 

[MrRom92]

who even wants this fr

 

[joeblow7777]

I don’t understand why people in the tech world are so obsessed with bezels, or rather, the lack of them. I appreciate more screen real estate and all, but we’ve long since gotten to the point where it’s just shaving millimeters.

 

[LogicalApex]

This sounds annoying. Where would you rest your fingers while using the phone? The iPhone is already tough on that regard with misclicks and accidental scrolling happening all the time...

 

[krspkbl]

I don't care about bezel. they've slimmed it down quite a bit. i'm just happy we don't have the awful iPhone 8 bezels. They were ugly as hell.

I don't have much issue with the notch/dynamic island but I do want an all screen iPhone. no visible cameras or sensors.

A bezel-free mini - I see you.

You can't see something that will never exist.