This is the rave of the moment. Smartphone manufacturers will stop at nothing to think for all us. Just when we were trying to figure out what the 19:9 aspect ratio is, we had 19.5:9, and now we have 21:9. It is really called 21 by 9.
What is a 21:9 Aspect Ratio?
Wikipedia gives a meaning when it reveals that 21:9 aspect ratio is a consumer electronics marketing term to describe ultra-wide screen. It is designed to show films recorded in CinemaScope and equivalent modern anamorphic formats.
List of popular aspect Ratios over the years
If you have been buying phones for over three years, no doubt, you must have bought phones which arrived with different aspect ratios. The problem is that most of us don’t even care about it. Please find below the list of most common aspect ratios we’ve seen in mobile phones in recent years. Note that these aspect ratios are also associated with resolutions on the smartphones.
16:9 – 1280 x 720, 1366 x 768, 1600 x 900, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 3840 x 2160, 5120 x 2880, 7680 x 4320
21:9 – 2560 x 1080, 3440 x 1440, 5120 x 2160
No doubt, 16:9 aspect ratio is the most popular as far as we are concerned. Let’s now look at aspect ratios in a few flagship phones. The Huawei P30 Pro has screen size 6.47 inches but the aspect ratio is 19.5:9. OnePlus 7 Pro is 6.67 inches large at the screen, yet the aspect ratio is also 19.5:9. Asus Zenfone 6 is another flagship phone that came in 6.4 inches but the aspect ratio is still 19.5:9. However, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is a mobile phone with 6.1 inches screen but the aspect ratio is only 19:9.
What you see above are bezel-less phones and these seek to possess the highest screen to body ratio that we have today.
What’s the trick? Which one is the right one for me? These are questions you may ask. Like I wrote above, 16:9 has been the commonest aspect ratio but others are springing up now possibly for one reason. The manufacturer of the phone are telling phone users that they need a wider screen to be able to enjoy the use of their mobile phones. Now, that is not exactly correct, but it is also what cinema-mongers have used before in order to draw people away from their TVs and into the crowded cinemas in the past. I don’t know how effective that has been.
Aspect Ratios- What it Means for You
Do you have a large hand? Do you sometimes want to make use of your phone, scrolling, swiping and doing other things with just one hand? These could be hard for you if your phone is 21:9 aspect ratio but it will be easier on a 16:9 aspect ratio smartphone. I can’t say for real if when a movie is shot on a 21:9 or higher aspect ratio screen, whether it wouldn’t show correctly on a 16:9 aspect ratio screen but for all I know, aspect ratio is something you really want to care about if you care about a large screen and disregard a small screen. Finally, you have to be sure because even a large screen phone does not always mean that the display will also automatically be generous at the aspect ratio.
