If you ignore screen size (which people erroneously use as a metric for phone size, since it's an easily findable and easy to understand number) and instead look at actual phone dimensions, most phones now aren't actually dissimilar. Bezels have shrunk a lot.

• Galaxy S24, Jan 2024: 147mm x 70.6mm

• Galaxy S5, Feb 2014: 142mm x 72.5mm

S24 frontal area = 10,378mm²

S5 frontal area = 10,153mm²

The S24 is only 2% larger than its decade-old equivalent. Not something you'd even notice.

If you include the thickness of the device, then the S24 is actually 4% smaller than its decade old equivalent.

Now sure, there were smaller phones, especially if you go further back, like an iPhone 3G genuinely would be considered tiny now.

It's just worth noting that phones aren't actually growing each year anymore like people say they are, and they haven't for a while. Bezels shrinking is a huge change in design for TVs, monitors, laptops, phones.

People are just hearing things like "6.3 inch screen" and they think "wow, my old phone only had a 4.5 inch screen. This phone must be so much larger!"