Phone wallpaper sizes, and why 1080 x 1920 gets cropped

What size should a phone wallpaper be?

Your screen's own pixels, in portrait. A wallpaper at that size is shown pixel for pixel, with nothing enlarged and nothing cropped. These are the sizes each maker gives for the phones it sells.

The figures are from each maker's own pages, such as Apple's iPhone 17 tech specs, Google's Pixel 11 tech specs and Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra specs. Apple and Samsung print the height first. The table puts the width first.

The last column is how many times taller than wide each screen is. Every phone here is 2.16 to 2.24 times as tall as it is wide. A 16:9 picture is 1.78.

The Galaxy S26+ and S26 Ultra have a screen resolution setting. Make the wallpaper at the full 1440 x 3120 whatever it is set to.

At a lower setting the phone scales it down, and it stays sharp if you switch to the higher one.

Is 1080 x 1920 a good wallpaper size?

No. It is 9:16, only 1.78 times as tall as wide. A current phone is taller than that, so it enlarges the picture until it reaches the top and bottom, then crops the sides that overhang.

On an iPhone 17, a 1080 x 1920 wallpaper is enlarged 1.37 times and keeps 81.7 percent of itself. On a Galaxy S26 Ultra it is enlarged 1.63 times, the most of any phone here, and enlarging cannot add detail.

Across the phones in the table it keeps 79.1 to 82.1 percent. We worked every row out with the function our resizer fills an exact size with: scale until both sides are covered, then crop the overhang evenly.

A phone may let you move the picture before you set it. That changes which part is lost, not how much.

Is there one size that fits every phone?

Near enough: 1440 x 3200. It is as wide as the widest screen in the table, so no phone has to enlarge it. Its 9:20 shape sits between the iPhones' and the Pixels'.

The last two columns above show it keeps at least 97.3 percent of itself on every phone. What goes is a thin band: from the top and bottom on an iPhone or a Galaxy, and from the sides on a Pixel.

So keep faces and words away from the very edges. On a lock screen the clock sits near the top, and on a home screen the dock covers the bottom.

What about foldable phones?

A foldable has two screens, and they are different shapes. One picture cannot fill both well.

The makers write these figures in different orders, so the table quotes each as printed. The last column is the long side over the short side, which does not depend on the order.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold's inner screen is almost square, at 1.04. Its outer screen is 2.17, like an iPhone. A wallpaper made for the outer screen keeps only 47.8 percent of itself on the inner one, and is enlarged 1.92 times.

If your phone lets you set each screen's wallpaper separately, make one for each, at that screen's pixels. If it does not, expect one of the two to be cropped hard.

Why does my iPhone zoom in on my wallpaper?

Because the photo is a different shape from the screen. An iPhone photo at 12 megapixels is 3024 x 4032, 1.33 times as tall as wide. An iPhone 17 screen is 2.17.

To fill the screen, the photo is scaled until it reaches the top and bottom, and the sides are cut off. Only 61.3 percent of the photo's width stays on an iPhone 17.

You can choose which part stays. Apple's guide to customising the Lock Screen says to pinch open to zoom in and drag with two fingers to move the photo.

How do you make a wallpaper at the right size?

Resize the picture to your phone's pixels from the first table, or to 1440 x 3200 for any phone. The free online image resizer takes an exact width and height.

Turn off Keep the original proportions, type the two numbers, and leave Crop to fill selected. It scales the picture to cover the box and cuts the overhang evenly.

To pick the part that stays yourself, crop images online for free first, then resize.

A 1080 x 1920 frame still has its uses, such as a story. For that, resize an image to 1080 x 1920.