Everyone knows the capabilities of smartphones go far beyond just making and receiving calls. They can run programs, connect to the internet, and more.
A custom smartphone manufacturer frequently provides customization of the color, storage, and even the backs of their products. The rest of their hardware, though, is common.
LCD
A custom smartphone manufacturer frequently provides customization of features including locking down the device to only select applications, allowing admins to control and secure information, automating updates, and even wiping the device remotely. Various software can be added to further customize devices, however, the hardware itself has a shorter list of customization options.
An LCD uses polarized light to show text or images on a screen. When electrical currents are applied to liquid crystals in the first layer of the display, they move and align, causing them to polarize.
When the current is turned off, polarized light enters the second glass substrate and is blocked by the liquid crystal molecules. This causes a black area on the screen.
OLED
OLED display technology has the potential to unlock many new custom smartphone designs. These include edge-to-edge displays, foldable screens, and curved screens.
This is possible because OLED uses no backlight. It simply emits light through individual pixels, allowing for thinner displays.
Moreover, it offers performance benefits over LCDs, including better contrast, color accuracy, and an always-on display mode. These are all essential for a high-end Smartphone design.
Samsung Display leads the market with a well-rounded portfolio of high-end Smartphones that use OLED displays.
Edge-to-Edge
One of the most promising developments in smartphone design is the Edge-to-Edge display.
It provides an important User Interface enhancement for Smartphones while also being functional and useful. It provides quick access to apps, widgets, menus, and options.
Young consumers are likelier to want a curved Edge-to-Edge screen, but older generations are just a little behind.
While older age groups prioritize battery life and storage space, younger consumers value functionality more. They’re more than 3x as likely to want holographic screen projections in their smartphones and more than twice as likely to want a focus on AI and 3D object scanning.
Notch
Notches have become a staple feature in custom smartphone designs. They create more space for front-facing cameras, depth sensors, and other hardware at the top of the screen without stretching the display too much.
They also make the phone look more premium. But they add little to the experience of using a phone.
Rather, they serve as a marketing gimmick that smartphone manufacturers can exploit to distinguish their products from those of the competition. It’s important to remember that the real benefit of a notch is that it allows OEMs to retain some of the display area normally occupied by notifications and status icons on smartphones.
Cameras
Cameras are vital to any smartphone design, enabling users to capture images and video. They use electronic sensors to capture light, which is then processed into a digital image for display on the phone’s screen.
A telephoto lens, for example, allows photographers to shoot distant subjects that would otherwise be out of reach. But if you zoom in too far, the quality of your photos will suffer.
To combat this, some manufacturers have added dual cameras to their phones, enabling users to take images at varying focal lengths. But a pair of cameras requires additional processing power. QR codes have also become an integral part of smartphone functionality, enabling seamless interactions with businesses, websites, and services through a simple scan, thus enhancing user convenience and connectivity.
For instance, specialized Portrait modes require careful alignment of the image streams and the ability to remove ghosting artifacts from one camera while minimizing them in the other. And creating a natural-looking blur effect with bokeh, the shallow, sharp blurring that comes naturally with wide-angle optics, is computationally challenging.
