Truly bezelless Sharp Aquos S2 with in-screen fingerprint reader rendered, Aquos S1 photographed in the wild

If real, the Sharp Aquos S2 looks like a total game changer, with zero bezels and under-glass fingerprint recognition. The S1 is slightly less spectacular.

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Fresh batch of credible Galaxy S8 gossip includes ‘all-screen front’, single rear camera

At this point, there’s not much tipsters, insiders and “people with direct knowledge of the matter” can add to the Samsung Galaxy S8 speculation bonanza. Everything that the next-gen Android flagship could realistically (and unrealistically) incorporate has been rumored or leaked at least once in the past couple of months.

What’s left to do now is wait and try to filter out the technologies and features that are just too groundbreaking, immature or risky for the GS8 to integrate on a large scale. As one financial analyst puts it speaking to Bloomberg, “how safe the phones turn out to be is more important than any hardware innovation.”

Hence, while Samsung is still “targeting” a March release, April feels like the much safer ETA bet. “Tougher testing procedures in the wake of the Note 7 debacle”, as well as potentially “higher manufacturing costs”, may also force a delay in dual camera setup adoption, just like it was recently rumored on Weibo.

But the Galaxy S8 does need a killer selling point… or two, and so “all-screen front” plans remain very much in place. It’s unclear if we’re talking altogether bezel-less displays, though it’s certainly nice to hear flat-screen versions are out, and a “virtual home button” will indeed “be buried in the glass.” If Bloomberg’s sources are correct, of course, which is so very often the case.

With both Snapdragon 835 and Exynos… 8895 (?) processing power in tow (depending on your region), the Samsung Galaxy S8 is also tipped to mimic the sizes of its predecessor (5.1 and 5.5-inch). But sans borders, that could mean “viewing real estate” of around 5.7 and 6.2 inches respectively.

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Xiaomi Mi MIX Nano tipped for launch by year’s end with 5.5-inch ‘edgeless’ display

Technically, the Xiaomi Mi MIX isn’t altogether bezelless, borderless, edgeless or whatever gimmicky terminology you prefer to adopt when talking about a phone with no perceivable “dead space” around the screen.

But while this commercially-limited proof of concept still features an average-looking “chin”, needed to hold a repositioned front-facing camera, it undoubtedly moves us one step closer to a boundless future reportedly envisioned by Samsung and Apple too.

You know what would be even dreamier than a 6.4-inch, 158.8mm-tall Mi MIX, though? A diminutive variant of sorts retaining the 90+ percent screen-to-body ratio you could more easily maneuver… if you ever got your hands on it.

Enter the Xiaomi Mi MIX Nano, which is the alleged codename of a 5.5-incher with Snapdragon 821 processing power, 4GB RAM, and 64GB internal storage. Those specs are revealed by a very explicit, plausible “about phone” screenshot, with a number of live pics also leaked in China (where else?), seemingly showing two near-borderless devices side by side.

mi-mix-nano-specs

One is clearly the larger Mi MIX, and the other definitely qualifies for a 5.5-inch display squeezed into the standard footprint of a 5-inch or so handheld at a first glance. Rumor is the Mi MIX Nano (just a codename, keep in mind) will see daylight by the end of the year at a rough $450-equivalent price, but alas, we have no reason to expect a supply and demand equilibrium.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 now rumored to be 90 percent screen, fully borderless phones coming in a few years

A tech giant of Samsung’s stature obviously has more than one way to rebound after its worst mobile quarter in nearly eight years, but even if it were to secure all of Apple’s orders for 2017 iPhone OLED screen deliveries, the Galaxy S8 is still its highest stakes bet in the short term.

There’s clearly a lot riding on the “next big thing”, and not just because it’ll follow an unprecedented quality control fiasco. You also have to consider the enduring popularity and excellence of the GS7 and S7 Edge, with Samsung needing to tread carefully in seeking to strike the right balance between legacy honoring and an eye-catching major redesign.

Said redesign could see the Galaxy S8 almost entirely give up screen bezels, although according to a Samsung Display researcher and engineer, phones with over 99 percent display area ratio remain a few years away.

Park Won-sang claims “Samsung Display would roll out a full-screen display whose display area ratio reaches more than 90 percent next year”, avoiding however to confirm whether the S8 will indeed go after the Xiaomi Mi MIX on a much larger scale in the spring, or if “almost all sensors, such as the fingerprint sensor” shall only be built “under the screen” of the Galaxy Note 8 next fall.

Another great breakthrough tipped by a different Samsung Display employee would apparently yield a bendable VR device with a flexible OLED panel that “can be bent to cover a user’s eyes completely.” Sounds very tricky to mass-manufacture anytime soon, but VR hardware competition is rapidly heating up, so R&D acceleration might feel imperative.

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It apparently ‘doesn’t make sense’ to launch the borderless Xiaomi Mi MIX outside of China

We’ve been patiently waiting for the “Apple of China” to at least try to unlock its full global potential with a phone, any phone, officially released stateside for several years now, and while various Xiaomi execs have vowed such an expansion will eventually happen, it’s probably wise to keep your expectations low regarding the Mi MIX “concept.”If calling the “edgeless” 6.4-inch ...

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Latest round of Galaxy S8 (Edge) gossip includes up to 8GB RAM, 80 percent screen-to-body ratio

Now that Xiaomi is done dazzling us with new dual-curved handheld powerhouses, futuristic edgeless “concepts” and crazy cheap VR headsets, it’s time to once again revisit intensifying rumors over Samsung’s “next big ...

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Xiaomi Mi MIX ‘concept phone’ with edgeless design is real, coming soon at $515 and up

Disappointed to see the Mi Note 2 snub so many of the revolutionary features it was assuredly speculated to integrate? It turns out insiders were indeed onto something with their bezel-free chatter, although they didn’t realize Xiaomi actually had two mobile devices in the pipeline.One mainstream, and a “concept ...

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