[tromp]

Why do almost all phones have to be in that narrow band of 6.5 to 6.9 inches?

I wish there were more size choices on both ends of the spectrum. While most people prefer more choice below 6", I would like some choice above 7", since I keep my phone in my belly pouch, and never use it one-handed. My current Huawei Mate20X is actually ok at 7.2" (but worse than the Mediapad X1 I had before which at 7" was actually wider) but is way behind on Android updates, and will soon stop running my banking app.

[lloeki]

Quick reality check that

- 7" used to be tablet category, e.g the Nexus 7

- anything above 6" would be considered phablet

Phones are really just like cars now, size inflation included.

[volemo]

While I agree with the spirit of the thread and dearly love my mini, I think this reasoning doesn’t account for a substantial reduction in bezels: my iPhone 5S had more than a centimetre of black bars above and below its 4" display (altogether it was 5.4" in diagonal), I bet those phablets you mentioned had even bigger bezels and were closer to modern 8.5" phones.