First bezel-less Sony Xperia smartphone with a punch-hole display possibly arriving next month

Until now, Sony has not entered the race to create a smartphone with the smallest bezels possible. Instead, the Japanese company attempted to distinguish its flagship handsets with its novel 21:9 aspect ratio, which it claims would lead to greater productivity than other aspect ratios like 2:1 or 19.5:9. A recent patent publication on the WIPO Global Design Database suggests that this could be on the verge of changing.

As the photos below demonstrate, Sony has filed a patent for a smartphone design with a 21:9 aspect ratio and significantly smaller bezels than last year's Xperia 1 or Xperia 5. The patent shows that the Japanese company has achieved this by switching to a punch-hole display, the likes of which have become increasingly popular since the release of the Galaxy S10 series.

It remains unclear at this stage whether the design will feature in this year's Xperia handsets. However, Sony is expected to unveil two flagships at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, which runs between February 24 and February 27. These will apparently be the Xperia 1.1 and Xperia 5.1, which will both be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. The Xperia 0 and Xperia 3 are rumoured to launch at IFA 2020 and at some point this year respectively, so we would not rule out this design from making an appearance in 2020 if it does not appear next month.