Google recommends apps adapt to the Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and LG G6

In case you haven’t heard, LG and Samsung have launched some new flagship Android smartphones. The LG G6, the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus all have very large screens, and they also have very different display aspect ratios compared to most of the smartphones on the market. Google is now offering Android developers some tips on how they can optimize their apps so they can work best with these new smartphone displays.

The LG G6 has a 5.7-inch display with an aspect ratio of 18:9, while the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus have 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays, respectively, both with an 18.5:9 display ratio. In a blog post, Google points out that apps that have a maximum aspect ratio of 16:9 will show bars on the top and bottom of a screen with a ratio of 18.5:9. Black bars on the top and bottom are known as letterboxing, while bars on the sides are known as pillarboxing. Here’s an example of letterboxing:

Google says that Android app developers can declare an “android.max_aspect” element in the app’s “application” element in order to increase the maximum supported display aspect ratio. Google recommends that developers design apps to support aspect ratios of 2.1 or higher.

It’s likely that Samsung and LG will sell millions of units of their new flagship phones with their new aspect ratios, so it makes a lot of sense for Android app developers to make some simple code changes to fully support these larger screens, if they haven’t already.