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When it comes to modern technology, minimalism is the name of the game

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and the lightweight, sleek devices we use today look nothing like the clunky boxes of yesteryear.

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However, there is still one very noticeable limitation

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in humanity's quest to build the most futuristic looking gadgets possible.

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Bezzles, those bulky frames that surround our screens

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and that companies seem to be tripping over themselves to get rid of.

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Not just for a sexier aesthetic, but also to cram as much screen real estate as possible

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into smaller and smaller packages. But whether we're talking about a phone,

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a monitor or a TV, it seems like bezels are still a necessity

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for the time being. But why? To answer, we reached out to Sasha Kron at ASUS,

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a manufacturer of all three of those product categories, and we'd like to thank him for providing us

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with an assist on this video. Let's start with the simplest reason

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that we still have bezels. The edges of modern LCD and LED displays

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need to be protected because they're made up of multiple layers that need to be sealed up somehow.

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I mean, think of trying to take a triple-decker sandwich home from the deli without wrapping it up in plastic first.

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But that's not the end of it. Beyond structural protection and support,

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it turns out that bezels often house the equipment

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that drives the display itself, such as circuits and traces that run up to the screen.

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And if you're talking about a monitor, these components are often stored in the bottom bezel.

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That's why that particular one is usually quite a bit bigger.

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Now, it is certainly possible to put the components behind the display,

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but this can add a fair amount of thickness which may impact the product's appeal to consumers.

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But okay, hold on a second Linus. My smartphone has super thin bezels

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and doesn't even have a gigantic chin.

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Why can't they just do whatever they're doing in smartphones?

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Well, part of why phones get all the love is out of necessity.

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Phones obviously have a greater need to be more portable than other everyday electronics.

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So it makes sense that quite a bit more work has gone into eliminating phone bezels

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versus the ones on monitors or TVs. And phones have the added benefit

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of receiving extra structural support from having the logic board and the battery built in.

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There's also an economic reason. Profit margins on phone displays

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are quite a bit higher than on monitors, laptops and TVs

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because panels get produced in large batches

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which means that you can make many more phones from one batch

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than you can larger displays. Also, phones tend to be relatively expensive

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for their size, meaning that manufacturers can invest more in developing ways

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to reduce their bezels footprint. So some phones have their screens

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partially folded around the edge so that the part of the screen that needs protecting

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is tucked underneath the phone's back cover allowing for narrower bezels.

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In some cases, this can actually be clearly seen from the outside, such as with Samsung's Galaxy Edge series.

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Other times, the panel drivers can actually be folded behind the display,

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something that is much more difficult to do on a gaming laptop.

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You see quickly switching pixels on and off

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to get high refresh rates and fast pixel response times

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requires a lot of current, which means thicker wires or traces

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are required to carry it. Now on phones, these factors tend not to matter as much

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so manufacturers can get away with using thin traces

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that are easier to fold, not so on something like a gaming laptop.

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So all of this has meant that we look to be on a slow march towards phones

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with very, very minimal bezels, even phones that are nearly all screens

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such as Xiaomi's Concept Mi Mix Alpha. But as for the larger displays,

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well, it's certainly possible to make a very thin bezel

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out of a transparent material like glass so that it's less obvious,

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but to get a truly bezel-free display,

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the most promising technology right now looks like micro led.

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You can learn more about that up here, but it can get away without using bezels

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because the circuitry that drives the LEDs is embedded in an extremely thin substrate

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that forms part of the display itself. So it doesn't need the bezels either for structural support

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or to hold electronic components. Of course, if you really want a bezel-free display experience

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right the second, you could always just go out and buy a hollow lens,

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as long as you don't mind looking like a total dork. So thanks for watching guys,

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like this video, check out our other videos, leave a comment if you have a suggestion

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