Pantech to have a 5 inch “bezel-less” phone on Korean store shelves by the end of this month

BY Stefan Constantinescu

Published 11 Apr 2013

Pantech doesn’t get a lot of attention in the West, but they’re huge in their home country of South Korea. Phone Arena says they’re number two over there, right behind Samsung. So considering that both LG and Samsung have announced their respective 5 inch 1080p flagship phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, now it’s Pantech’s turn.

According to the Korean site ETNews, Pantech will start selling a 5 inch 1080p phone by the end of this month that has a “bezel-less” display. What exactly does that mean? Take a look at Sony’s Xperia ZL. The 5 inch 1080p panel on that thing takes up roughly 76% of the front of the device. To put that number into some context, the screen of the GS4 takes up a hair over 73% of the front of the phone.

If Pantech wants to launch a “bezel-less” smartphone, they better match or exceed the ZL, which is something I’m confident they can do. Back when Samsung announced the 4.8 inch Galaxy S3, Pantech announced a 5 inch phone called the Vega that was physically smaller than Samsung’s 2012 flagship. In other words, Pantech has the talent.

Shame this thing will likely never leave South Korea.