Small Phones
2026-03-01
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In 2010, the average smartphone screen diagonal length was just under 4 inches. That length has swelled to around 6.5 inches in 2026. To be honest, while the larger size makes things like mobile terminals much easier to use, I tend to like the smaller screen size for everyday use.
Recently I bought an original Unihertz Titan, and the screen has a relative-small 4.5-inch diagonal. However, the display has a square aspect ratio, contributing to the phone's enormous size. I've heard that Unihertz actually bought surplus Blackberry Passport display units for use in the Titan. I don't know if that's true, but with the included keyboard and the rugged design, the Titan is a beast.
Smaller screens have proven to be less of a distraction for me. They can handle communications like SMS messages perfectly well, but it's a little more difficult to read long-form content on them, so I'm less likely to scroll aimlessly. Videos are a pain too--smaller screens tend to have low resolution, and it's difficult to discern details on such a small scale anyway. Of course, phones with smaller screens tend to have lower specs too, which prevents me from running resource-heavy apps on them.
Unfortunately, I seem to be one of a vanishingly-small crowd of people who wants to restrict my smartphone usage in this way. As such, small devices are virtually nonexistent in 2026. I've played with a few over the years, the most recent one being the OneMyth S25 Pro, but without even a 3G data connection it was worthless as a telecommunications device. I could buy the Unihertz Jelly Max, but I've had bad luck when it comes to carrier compatibility, and I don't necessarily want to risk it.
A small part of me fantasizes about buying a small smartphone from several years ago and trying it as a daily driver. The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact and the Palm Phone come to mind, though they're already 8 years old. I'll probably face a lot of challenges finding compatible apps, and I'd like be limited to Android 10 or below.
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[Last updated: 2026-03-01]