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ab2c4

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Sep 21, 2013
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I was looking at two old iPhones we have laying around, a 7 and 12. Surprisingly the 7 had MUCH MUCH smaller bezels. Why is that?
 

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Do you have cases on these phones? It’s hard to tell what’s bezel and what isn’t in these pictures. You’ll need to retake the photos with solid backgrounds that are more contrasting to the phones, better lighting, don’t put the edge of the phone against the edge of the picture like in the first two pictures, and make sure any cases are taken off. You also need to put the two phones side by side and take a picture of them together with the camera exactly centered in order to be able to compare visually.

Or you can just measure the bezels and tell us the numbers.
 
I assume OP is talking about the side bezels of the iPhone 7?
It’s possible, but the side bezel is on the iPhone 12 is also thinner. Maybe because the bezels on the 7 are white so it looks different? The bezels on a iPhone 7 are definitely not thinner in any area compared to an iPhone 12.

From a quick search on AI, the side bezels on an iPhone 7 are approximately 4.1 mm vs 1.6 mm for the iPhone 12. I don’t have both iPhones in front of me to confirm this, but from even looking at these pictures, it looks right
 
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I was looking at two old iPhones we have laying around, a 7 and 12. Surprisingly the 7 had MUCH MUCH smaller bezels. Why is that?
We looking at the same picture? The 12 is almost bezel-less while the 7 has massive bezels. I regularly use an 8 as a secondary device for media and the bezels are massive, lol.
 
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iPhone 7: 4.31 mm
iPhone 12: 3.47 mm

These official dimensions were taken from Apple's Accessory Design Guidelines document.
I just looked those up as well, and what's also interesting is the inner bezels without the the metal frame:

iPhone 7 (inner bezel): 2.42 mm
iPhone 12 (inner bezel): 2.655 mm

The iPhone 7 is much closer there, due to its rounded frame.

However, the iPhone SE (2016) / 5S has them beat both:

iPhone SE: 1.995 mm (inner bezel), 3.435 mm (total bezel)

Finally, the slimmest is the 16 Pro at 1.44 mm (inner bezel), 2.44 mm (total bezel).
 
I just looked those up as well, and what's also interesting is the inner bezels without the the metal frame:

iPhone 7 (inner bezel): 2.42 mm
iPhone 12 (inner bezel): 2.655 mm

The iPhone 7 is much closer there, due to its rounded frame.

However, the iPhone SE (2016) / 5S has them beat both:

iPhone SE: 1.995 mm (inner bezel), 3.435 mm (total bezel)

Finally, the slimmest is the 16 Pro at 1.44 mm (inner bezel), 2.44 mm (total bezel).
What’s an “inner bezel”? Are you talking about the black vs the white part of the bezel?
 
I‘m talking about the glass part (always black since the iPhone X) versus the metal frame. The numbers posted by user BigBlur were for both combined.

View attachment 2540511
I guess that makes sense, but all of this is a bezel. On the older iPhone designs the white part was just over the black part where you couldn’t see it. Technically they could do that with the modern iPhone, wrapping the metal over the front of the phone. They could cover the black part of the glass completely right to the edge of the display. That wouldn’t eliminate the bezel, that just changes how it looks

It’s just like when you buy a really cheap android tablet and it’s got that big fat plastic trim around it. The display screen goes right to the edge of the plastic, but the plastic is over the screen. I’m not sure if that makes sense and maybe I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this 🤦‍♂️😂
 
I guess that makes sense, but all of this is a bezel.
It depends. On a black phone with black frame, they blend into each other and appear as one, but on a light-colored phone the metal frame is less prominent and the bezel therefore appears thinner. This is one of the reasons I prefer white/silver iPhones. The two parts do make a difference.
 
It depends. On a black phone with black frame, they blend into each other and appear as one, but on a light-colored phone the metal frame is less prominent and the bezel therefore appears thinner. This is one of the reasons I prefer white/silver iPhones. The two parts do make a difference.
Yeah, the white looks better in my opinion, but I know that’s never going to happen. I love the white border on the iMac, but people lose their minds about that. Many said it doesn’t look professional.


If Apple sold an iPhone with an option to get the black bezel white, I would instantly pay extra for that.

I think it’s just the way I look at it, but black looks cold and dark. White or light colors look vibrant and playful. If I’m going to look at something for enjoyment, I’ll take vibrant and playful over cold and dark any day of the week.
 
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