Other iPhone 8 Plus, XR, XS, XS Max screen sizes: For 16.9 video, 8 Plus is almost as big as XS Max

[EugW]

iPhone XS: 13.4 cm x 6.2 cm
iPhone XR: 14.1 cm x 6.5 cm
iPhone XS Max: 15.0 cm x 6.9 cm
iPhone 8 Plus: 12.2 cm x 6.8 cm

For the 8 Plus (and older Plus models), the entire screen is used for 16:9 video. For the XR, XS, and XS Max, there will be black bars on the sides in landscape mode, which means the limiting dimension is the height of the video, which on phones means the width.

As you can see, the 8 Plus has a screen width of about 68 mm, whereas the XS Max has a screen width of about 69 mm, nearly the same.

This page explains the issue in terms of last year's iPhone X. Below are pictures of the 8 vs X vs 8 Plus. In the first picture, the entirety of the video is shown on all phones. In the second picture, the video on the X is zoomed to fill the screen, cutting off the top and bottom of the video.

 

[jabingla2810]

...And if you look at a list of items you will see more on the iPhone X.

This has been discussed to death.

 

[EugW]

...And if you look at a list of items you will see more on the iPhone X.

This has been discussed to death.

Not really for the Max, since the Max never existed until now.

I think it's useful to provide actual calculated measurements for comparison's sake. Even better would be pictures of screen areas. There must be some out there but I can't find them with all three new models next to the old models.

 

[jabingla2810]

Not really for the Max, since the Max never existed until now.

I think it's useful to provide actual calculated measurements for comparison's sake. Even better would be pictures of screen areas. There must be some out there but I can't find them with all three new models next to the old models.

If all the iPhone could do was play video this argument would be worth having.

 

[EugW]

If all the iPhone could do was play video this argument would be worth having.

If one of the things the iPhone do was play video, this discussion would be worth having.

If it's not important to you, that's fine, but this is something that many people do with their phones. Thus, it is no surprise it was discussed at length with regards to the iPhone X vs the iPhone 8, as you've already mentioned yourself. Now we have two new bigger phones, the XR and XS Max, to discuss against the 8 Plus (and other Plus sized phones).

 

[archer75]

The only video I watch on my phone is youtube. For anything else I use my home theater so it's a non issue for me. Watching video on such a smaller screen is miserable. To me at least. But then I'm a home theater snob.
I guess if your main use for the phone was watching video this could be an issue for those people. But is that the main use of a phone for anyone?

 

[EugW]

The only video I watch on my phone is youtube. For anything else I use my home theater so it's a non issue for me. Watching video on such a smaller screen is miserable. To me at least. But then I'm a home theater snob.

I too am a home theatre snob. I used to watch on a 1080p projector (Sony VPL-HW45ES), but now have a 65" OLED (LG C8).

But I watch video on my phone quite frequently when away from home.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I too am a home theatre snob. I used to watch on a 1080p projector (Sony VPL-HW45ES), but now have a 65" OLED (LG C8).

But I watch video on my phone quite frequently when away from home.

Me too. I only use ISF calibrated displays. I also watch plenty of videos on my phone. Recently, I’m using it as a second screen for sporting events. Video is one of the top utilities on my iPhone and I’d say this is true for most people I know.

 

[thelatinist]

What I'm curious about is this: since the vertical resolution of the Max's display is 1242, presumably 1080p video will be displayed at 2208 x 1242. This will require upscaling, and my experience with upscaling has not been good. How would 1920x1080 video upscaled to 2208x1242 compare to the same video viewed on a native 1920x1080 screen of the same size?

 

[EugW]

What I'm curious about is this: since the vertical resolution of the Max's display is 1242, presumably 1080p video will be displayed at 2208 x 1242. This will require upscaling, and my experience with upscaling has not been good. How would 1920x1080 video upscaled to 2208x1242 compare to the same video viewed on a native 1920x1080 screen of the same size?

1080p upscaled on that Max's screen will look excellent.
Just like it will look excellent downscaled on the XR's screen.
I wouldn't worry about the scaling, expecially on such a small screen.

If you want to worry about something, the bigger concern for some people will be the notch and the aspect ratio.

 

[thelatinist]

If you want to worry about something, the bigger concern for some people will be the notch and the aspect ratio.

Well, since I was talking about unzoomed video, the notch and aspect ratio are pretty irrelevant.

 

[Bearxor]

Coming from a 7+ to a X last year (after using a 6+/6S+ before that) this was one of my huge issues.

Watching video the screen was no bigger than a 4.7" phone. Stretching it out gave you a bigger view but cropped off the top and bottom. Most video is simply formatted for 16:9.

I've learned to deal with it. I deal with it by not zooming video in. I suspect I will handle video on the XS Max the same way.

The bigger issue for me is that the X was simply unusable in landscape mode. Way too narrow on the top and bottom there. Looking forward to the XS Max fixing that (I hope).

 

[That70sGAdawg]

Another reason I'm keeping my 8+ and it will be awesome with OS12 , giving me 85-90% of what the Max does. I believe the bezels (black on product red ) give you something to hang onto while in landscape & I love having the Touch ID (back) button to go to the first home screen quickly while in a phone holder on my car dash vent . The X drove me crazy with Face ID on a desk, or in the car.

 

[Jetcat3]

16:9 videos on the X are 13% larger than the iPhone 8, 7, etc. 5” diagonal vs 4.7”. The Max will be 22% larger than the X at 5.53” diagonal vs 5” of the X.

 

[thelatinist]

16:9 videos on the X are 13% larger than the iPhone 8, 7, etc. 5” diagonal vs 4.7”. The Max will be 22% larger than the X at 5.53” diagonal vs 5” of the X.

That’s only if you’re zooming in and therefore losing significant portions of the picture to the corners and notch and actuall cropping of the top and bottom of the picture. Unzoomed 16:9 video on the X/XS is actually smaller than on the 8, and on the XS Max it will be almost exactly the same size as on my 8 Plus.

 

[Jetcat3]

That’s only if you’re zooming in and therefore losing significant portions of the picture to the corners and notch and actuall cropping of the top and bottom of the picture. Unzoomed 16:9 video on the X/XS is actually smaller than on the 8, and on the XS Max it will be almost exactly the same size as on my 8 Plus.

No, this is NOT zoomed in. Those measurements are all with 16:9 videos.
[doublepost=1536967041][/doublepost]

What I'm curious about is this: since the vertical resolution of the Max's display is 1242, presumably 1080p video will be displayed at 2208 x 1242. This will require upscaling, and my experience with upscaling has not been good. How would 1920x1080 video upscaled to 2208x1242 compare to the same video viewed on a native 1920x1080 screen of the same size?

I’m confused. So the phone would play the video at 2208 X 1242 and then upscale to what resolution?

 

[Ortiz83]

Another reason I'm keeping my 8+ and it will be awesome with OS12 , giving me 85-90% of what the Max does. I believe the bezels (black on product red ) give you something to hang onto while in landscape & I love having the Touch ID (back) button to go to the first home screen quickly while in a phone holder on my car dash vent . The X drove me crazy with Face ID on a desk, or in the car.

I’m glad I don’t have the iPhone 8+

 

[Ortiz83]

So when will a video fit the whole screen of the Max perfectly? What aspect ratio would it have to be recorded in?

 

[thelatinist]

That’s simply not possible. The X/XS’s screen is narrower than the 8’s, so it can’t possibly fit a larger 16:9 image.

And, as I said, the XS Max will have almost exactly the same width of screen as my 8 Plus, and will therefore have almost exactly the same size unzoomed video.

 

[Supermallet]

So when will a video fit the whole screen of the Max perfectly? What aspect ratio would it have to be recorded in?

2208x1242

 

[thelatinist]

So when will a video fit the whole screen of the Max perfectly? What aspect ratio would it have to be recorded in?

19.5:9

 

[EugW]

Well, since I was talking about unzoomed video, the notch and aspect ratio are pretty irrelevant.

I just meant that the aspect ratio means for 16:9 video, a lot of the screen is wasted (as you know).

I am looking to get an XR, so I am a little disappointed going from my 5.5" 7 Plus to the 6.1" XR 128 GB will mean a smaller image size, but I'm not prepared to spend the 57% extra to get the XS Max 256 GB.

Then again, for very widescreen video, then the 19.5:9 aspect ratio would actually be an advantage. I tend to watch TV shows and short series more often than movies on the phone though, so for this purpose, 16:9 video is more common.

Actually, lately it's often been moot anyway, since I've been taking my 9.7" iPad along.

 

[nviz22]

Just to be sure, the aspect ratio on the XR is non-traditional (not 16:9)?

 

[EugW]

2208x1242

That is not correct. It's 2688x1242 actually. See below:

Just to be sure, the aspect ratio on the XR is non-traditional (not 16:9)?

You can think of the XR screen as identical to the XS Max screen, just shrunk slightly. As @thelatinist said for the Max, it's 19.5:9.

In fact, we've been discussing in the other thread how the XR actually has the exact same screen real estate as the Max, just shrunk. Meaning, Apple has spec'd both screens to have 414x896 points.

The difference is that the XR multiplies that x 2 to get 828x1792 whereas the Max multiplies that x 3 to get 1242x2688.

@Supermallet, you were probably thinking of the 8 Plus screen, which is first rendered at 2208x1242 before it's downsampled to 1920x1080. See diagram above. That represents 414x736 points, multiplied x 3. You'll also note that 414 number is the same as with both the Max and the XR, meaning the amount of information that can be displayed width-wise is exactly the same for all three models (Plus, XR, Max).

 

[Ortiz83]

19.5:9

Is that ratio common or not?