I come to you immediately with good and unhealthy information. The unhealthy information is that small telephones are useless. Apple is all however actually killing off the iPhone Mini this yr, and the smallest Android cellphone I’ve used all yr is the 5.9-inch Asus Zenfone 9 — fairly a bit bigger than the 5.4-inch Mini. But that’s what passes for “small” now.

Here’s the excellent news. We can in the end lay to relaxation the talk over what’s the best dimension for a cellphone as a result of I simply made up a solution: 6.1 inches. All telephones henceforth shall adhere to the brand new, fully affordable customary I’ve invented and include a 6.1-inch display. Take the Google Pixel 6A and its — you guessed it — 6.1-inch display. Next to the 6.4 and 6.7-inch Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, it’s downright tiny. It fooled me into pondering I used to be holding a small cellphone after I first took it out of the field, nevertheless it’s really an entire lot larger than the Mini.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If we are able to’t have actually small telephones, then we must always have extra just like the Pixel 6A: sufficiently small to form of slot in your pocket however giant sufficient to be tolerated by the big-phone-loving inhabitants. Certain exceptions shall be allowed, however by the ability vested in me by actually no one: 6.1 inches is the brand new default. Here’s my reasoning.

It’s sufficiently small to form of qualify as a compact cellphone.

Sony just teased a new “compact” phone that’s in all probability the Xperia 5 IV, which may be very prone to have a 6.1-inch display like its predecessor. Since most Android telephones (particularly the best-selling funds and midrange gadgets) hover across the 6.5-inch mark lately, this counts as compact.

It’s additionally, objectively, not very small. Here’s one thing that actually occurred: after I unboxed the Google Pixel 6A, I gushed to the remainder of the Verge opinions staff over Slack about what a cute, small cellphone it was. A little bit child Pixel 6! They shortly jogged my memory that 6.1 inches is just not tiny, cute cellphone territory. When you spend most of your time utilizing big Android telephones, you’ll be able to lose your sense of what’s a small show and what’s simply regular.

It’s sufficiently big to be acceptable to the big-phone-favoring public.

The base fashions of the Samsung Galaxy S22 and iPhone 13 are each 6.1 inches. In the US, no less than, these are mainly the default flagship telephones on Android and iOS — you’ll be able to go up from there, each in value and display dimension, nevertheless it all begins at 6.1 inches. See my earlier level about display dimension being normalized via repeated publicity: if most individuals already see this because the default, then it’s settled, I say! No have to push the usual display dimension larger — we’re all cozy proper right here.

Someone has to place an finish to display dimension inflation.

Years in the past, all of us walked round with tiny sub-5-inch telephones in our pockets, and you recognize what? That was high-quality. But then we obtained grasping for extra sq. inches and extra pixels. Here we’re. The largest iPhone is a gargantuan 6.7 inches. What’s subsequent, a 7.6-inch display? You’d must fold it in half to even carry it round! Imagine! The insanity should be stopped.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

I’m not saying each single cellphone must be 6.1 inches. The individuals have spoken, and the individuals need Maxes, Pluses, and Ultras. I’m simply declaring politely asking that we choose a wise center floor that satisfies each the small cellphone aficionados and everybody else earlier than it’s too late. In the meantime, I’ll be over right here, gently weeping as I put my SIM card into one more cellphone with an enormous 6-point-something-inch display.