BIG-SCREEN PHONES ARE BECOMING A PROBLEM (& FOLDABLE DISPLAYS AREN'T THE SOLUTION)

IT’S NOT JUST THE GALAXY S20 ULTRA.

- MICHAEL SIMON

I have a confession to make: My favorite phone right now is the Samsung Galaxy S9 (go.pcworld.com/s9gl). Yes, the one from 2018. I’m testing the 6.9-inch Galaxy S20 Ultra (see page 39) and running Android 11 on the 6.3-inch Pixel 3 XL (go.pcworld.com/g3px), but when I want to kick back with my phone of choice, these days I’m reaching for the Galaxy S9 and its 5.8-inch screen. In short, I’m sick of big phones.

In just the past few months, we’ve gotten the 6.67-inch OnePlus 7T Pro (go. pcworld.com/1p7t), 6.8-inch Galaxy Note 10+ (go.pcworld.com/n10p), 6.8-inch LG V60 (go.pcworld.com/lv60), and 6.9-inch Galaxy S20 Ultra, all of which are extremely cumbersome. It’s gotten to the point where the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max (go.pcworld.com/11mx) is on the small side (which is probably why Apple is rumored to bump the size of its biggest flagship [go.pcworld.com/bgfl] to 6.7 inches this year).

But at least Apple makes an iPhone that’s under six inches. If you want a decent Android phone that can actually be used with one hand, your options are basically a 5.6-inch Pixel 3a (go.pcworld.com/gp3a) or a Galaxy S10e. The Galaxy S20 starts at 6.2 inches and goes up from there, nearly half an inch bigger than the Galaxy S9 from just two years ago.