The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the best iPhones that Apple has ever made, but they won't stay that way forever. In fact, they won't stay that way for long with Apple expected to announce the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max this coming September. That's now just three months away, and as the excitement starts to ramp up, so do the leaks — and the latest backs up previous rumors that Apple intends to shrink its Pro iPhones' bezels further than ever, whether we want it to or not.
Previous reports had suggested that Apple's upcoming Pro models will see the company shrink the size of the bezels around the iPhone's display beyond anything that we've seen before. Not only will these bezels be the thinnest to ever grace an iPhone but, if this latest report is accurate, they'll also be the thinnest that any smartphone has been able to boast. But with the iPhone's bezels already being pretty svelte, how many people really want them to shrink yet further?
Let me rephrase that question. If you are lucky enough to own an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, let's run an experiment. Take a good, long, hard look at it. I'm willing to bet a sizeable pile of internet cookies that you don't find yourself thinking "That's a good-looking phone, but you know what? I really wish those bezels were smaller."
Thinner than thin
This latest report of ever-shrinking bezels comes courtesy of the X leaker @UniverseIce who claims that a "friend confirmed that iPhone 16 Pro will reduce bezel, surpassing Galaxy S24 to become the world's narrowest bezel mobile phone, which seems to be very close to the dream form."
But the question I have is whether or not anyone really is dreaming of a form that has bezels smaller than that of the latest iPhones. I'm not convinced that they do.
That's a thought seemingly confirmed by the replies to the leaker's post with the consensus being that thinner bezels not only don't sit atop their wishlist but rather aren't on it at all. "I'll never understand this need. Never," one responder said. Another said that he hadn't thought about bezels in years. A third summed it up pretty well saying that "it makes 0 difference"
There were, of course, some that seemed to be pleased by the news but they were few and far between. Surely there are better places for Apple to spend its engineering hours?
One place I'd much rather Apple focus is on the display's surface. Modern iPhone displays just don't seem to break in the way that they used to, and that's undoubtedly a good thing. But scratches? I only have to look at my iPhone 15 Pro Max the wrong way and it gets scratched. Put it in a pocket, alone, and I can guarantee it'll pick up a hairline scratch somewhere. I've somehow managed to scratch my iPhone right here my thumb swipes up when unlocking it or switching apps. I write words for a living, typing on a keyboard — it isn't like my thumb is covered in metal shavings after a day in the metalworks, is it? What scratched the glass, a particularly abrasive callus?
Other areas Apple could improve include, among other things, some colors that don't look like a different shade of gray or perhaps more internal upgrades like better battery life or a chassis design that helps dissipate heat in such a way that your iPhone doesn't act as a hotplate whenever you update too many apps at once from the App Store.
But sure. Let's shrink a bezel nobody even notices instead.
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