You told us: Most of you don’t care for curved displays, to put it mildly

Curved displays have been around on smartphones since 2014’s Galaxy Note Edge, but they’ve become a fixture on most of today’s premium phones. From Samsung and Xiaomi to Oppo and OnePlus, it’s hard to find a brand that hasn’t taken part in this trend.

Our own C Scott Brown lamented the fact that most Android OEMs only offer curved displays on their premium phones. He added a poll in his opinion piece, asking readers what they thought of curved screens. Here are the results of that poll.

Do you like curved displays?

Results

This was a popular poll, with over 14,000 votes cast as of writing. The most popular pick by a significant margin was “no, I hate the curves,” accounting for 45.68% of the vote. Reader comments point to reasons like accidental touches on curved displays, durability concerns when the device falls, and screen protectors being more of a hassle.

In second place was the “I don’t care either way” camp, accounting for 26.2% of the vote. Rounding out the top three was “yes, I love the curves,” with 20.13% of all votes. Reader comments suggest that gesture navigation and aesthetics are a few reasons why people prefer phones with curved panels.

Finally, ~8% of respondents noted that they hadn’t used a phone with a curved display before. Curved screens are still the domain of premium phones for the most part, so we’re guessing these voters have either stuck with budget devices or it just so happens that they’ve only bought phones with flat screens.

Comments

• Bonedatt: The only time the curved display on my Note20 Ultra bothers me, is when I am using my S-Pen to take notes, and I forget to disable the edge. Other than that, I am indifferent when it comes to flat or curve screens. I use an iPhone 13 Pro Max occasionally, and the flat screen has never been something that I envied. iOS is why I can never use an iPhone as a daily driver, regardless of the flat screen.
• Jared Ourada: A big disadvantage of curved screens that you missed: glass screen protectors are terribly hard to align with curved screens. If it is just a touch off, it doesn’t lay down flat.
• M Hector: I prefer a flat display, an SD card slot and a headphone jack. Totally agree there. That said, I have an S22 Ultra and I love it.
• Victor_R: To me and a lot of people I know, curved displays feel more premium. They reduce the bezel significantly and make the phone feel seemless. To me, curved display makes a phone feel truly premium
• Will: I prefer curved screens since they are more comfortable in my hands I tried the S22+ for 2 weeks and couldn’t handle it since it digs into my hand so I swapped for the S22U and am so much happier I thought it would be too big but it isn’t in the slightest for me. Also I use slide up gestures from the bottom. Back on the left bottom, home on middle bottom and app switcher on the right bottom. I just prefer it that way after trying all of them for a long while
• Hellbeck: The other half used a Galaxy S7 Edge for about 6 years until it stopped working properly, and when had to use the phone I found myself having to go to recents to close the accidentally opened apps because of the curved screen. I like to hold my phone securely and not have to place it on the top of my palm. She now has a flat screen phone and has commented on the fact that there has been no accidental apps opened even though she was used to the curve.
• Mark Binder: I like flat displays, but the sharp corners of the iPhone just makes holding the phone to uncomfortable. I’d much prefer dealing with a comfortable curved display than sharp edges digging into my hands.
• danielmbg: I disagree on the navigation, I have both the Pixel 6 pro and the pixel 3XL, and with case the 6 is a lot easier and feels much better to navigate. On the 3 because the case goes over the screen it’s more annoying to move backwards. But I do agree on fragile, because the screen is more visible it makes it much easier to scratch. I’m kinda torn, honestly I really enjoy the curved screen, but the at same time I feel it’s much easier to scratch.
• ChrisPollard77: The curved display is really the only thing I still hate about my trusty old Note 10+. Didn’t like it when I bought it, don’t like it years later. Mainly for points already discussed here: screws up the S-Pen when you reach the curve and tempered glass screen protectors are either hideously expensive (for what they are) or feel like a complete crap shoot whether they will give you decent adhesion or not. First phone I’ve ever left the factory film on.
• JPL: Curved displays distort video at the edges a bit and are a pain to put screen protectors on. They need to go.