NEW YORK — There was a time you could count on phones getting larger each year. Samsung’s runaway success with the big-screen smartphone even spurred Apple to release a supersized model last fall. But if phones get any bigger, will they be too hard to use?
That’s the worry of some smartphone makers — and the reason why many of the new models this year didn’t grow. LG even shrank the G Flex 2 to a 5.5-inch screen, as measured diagonally, compared with 6 inches before.
“The size of the phone really is at the sweet spot,” said Drew Bamford, corporate vice president of HTC Creative Labs, which studies how consumers use phones. Bamford said a larger phone would be too cumbersome to use with one hand.
Hong Yeo, a senior designer at Samsung, said those who really need a larger screen could turn to other models, such as the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4. For the S6, 5.1 inches was “the perfect size for what we want to do,” he said.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the ideal display size these days tends to be 4.5 inches to 5.5 inches.
