With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ and the LG G6, a new 18:9 (in the case of Samsung, 18.5:9) is making its way to Android devices and Android developers will need to support it. If developers don’t update the maximum aspect ratio of their apps, their apps will be rendered at 16:9 on these devices. That means that users will have a black bar at the top and bottom of the display. It’ll work, but won’t be so pretty.
In a blog post on the Android Developer blog, Google has posted on this and is encouraging developers to increase the maximum ratio of their apps to support this new 18:9 view so their apps can take full advantage of the screen size.
In the post, Google lays out what needs to happen. They provide code examples of the changes that need to be made in order for apps to take advantage of this new screen size. Fortunately it is a relatively minor change but it will require developers to recompile their apps and submit a new build to the Play Store for users to download. It won’t impact devices with less than 18:9 display ratios.
Chances are you are going to see developers update their apps pretty fast. Demand for the new Samsung S8 and S8+ is expected to be very high and developers will want to give the best experience for their apps on these new phones.
