Tech journalist Dominic Preston says he held the first truly bezel-free phone. The concept phone from Tecno, shown at IFA 2026, has no black bars around the screen at all. There is still a thin frame, but not a traditional bezel.
Preston said smartphone makers obsessed over shrinking bezels about a decade ago, and then progress stopped. The Tecno concept shows what a fully edge-to-edge display could look like.
π The Backstory
For years, phone makers raced to make screens bigger and bezels smaller. The black bars around displays shrank to about a millimetre on every side of most phones, and then the race seemed to end. Bezel-free designs need clever engineering, because cameras, sensors and antennas have to go somewhere.
Concept phones let brands show off future ideas before they are practical to sell. Tecno's design uses new display and camera tricks to hide the parts that normally force a bezel. Whether it reaches shops depends on cost and reliability.
π― Why It Matters
Smartphones are the most-used device in most people's lives. Big leaps in design change how phones look for years, and this concept hints at the next step for every phone brand.
Tech journalist Dominic Preston says he held the first truly bezel-free phone. The concept phone from Tecno, shown at IFA 2026, has no black bars around the screen at all. There is still a thin frame, but not a traditional bezel.
Preston said smartphone makers obsessed over shrinking bezels about a decade ago, and then progress stopped. The Tecno concept shows what a fully edge-to-edge display could look like.
For years, phone makers raced to make screens bigger and bezels smaller. The black bars around displays shrank to about a millimetre on every side of most phones, and then the race seemed to end. Bezel-free designs need clever engineering, because cameras, sensors and antennas have to go somewhere.
Concept phones let brands show off future ideas before they are practical to sell. Tecno's design uses new display and camera tricks to hide the parts that normally force a bezel. Whether it reaches shops depends on cost and reliability.
Smartphones are the most-used device in most people's lives. Big leaps in design change how phones look for years, and this concept hints at the next step for every phone brand.