Gizmodo - Every year it's the same stupid rumor: "the new iPhone will have a 16:9 display." It even circulated before the first iPhone came out. And it happens with the iPad too. This year isn't different. But does it make sense? Would the next iPhone really have a 16:9 screen?
What are the benefits?
This is the main question you should ask yourself. What good would a 16:9 screen bring to you, the user?
First, proponents of the 16:9 iPhone say that this is the "format of the future." It's the resolution of HD video, be it 720p or 1080p. TV shows are filmed in 16:9 format. Home video is filmed in 16:9 format. They claim that people want to see all this video without letterboxing—that people hate black bars on the top and bottom of their displays. They argue that a 16:9 format will allow the iPhone to use the whole screen when watching video of this kind.
But while a 16:9 screen would fit this content perfectly, it would also push that "problem" elsewhere. It will actually make it even bigger. There are tens of thousands of movies and videos filmed in other formats (both 4:3 and all kinds of panoramic aspect ratio). More importantly, there are hundreds of thousands of apps and video games that are not designed for 16:9. Even if scaled, that will bring letterboxing to a much broader range of content. More
