There’s one thing about the Galaxy S4 that doesn’t get a lot of attention. It’s size.

The GS4 measures 136.6 mm tall by 69.8 mm wide. The GS3 on the other hand, it measures 136.6 mm tall by 70.6 mm wide. So despite the fact that the GS4’s screen is 0.2 inches larger than the screen in the GS3, it’s actually a smaller phone.

Now this has got me thinking, can these rumors floating around about a 5.9 inch Note III be true?

And if so, can the phone still come in at a reasonable size?

Here are some calculations I’ve done using a website called DPI calculator. First, let’s start with the GS3. It has a 4.8 inch screen, so the panel itself comes in at 106.3 mm tall by 59.8 cm wide. The phone is 136.6 mm tall by 70.6 mm wide.

That means the GS3’s screen takes up roughly 66% of the surface area of the front of the device.

Now let’s move to the GS4. The 5 inch panel is 110.7 mm tall by 62.3 mm wide. The phone is 136.6 mm tall by 69.8 mm wide. Shove those numbers into a calculator and you get 72.3%.

With those two figures in mind, let’s examine the Galaxy Note II. The phone itself measures 151.1 mm tall by 80.5 mm wide. The 5.5 inch panel, just the panel, is 121.8 mm tall by 68.5 mm wide.

Do the math and you find out that the Note II’s screen takes up 68.6% of the Note II’s front.

Assuming the size of the Note III stays constant, and a 5.9 inch panel comes in at 130.6 mm tall by 73.5 mm tall, that would mean this hypothetical Note III display would take up about 79% of the front of the device.

So can Samsung pull it off? Take a look at Sony’s Xperia ZL. It measures 131.6 mm tall by 69.3 mm wide, while at the same time having a 5 inch 1080p panel. That means the panel itself takes up almost 76% of the front of the device. It should be noted that the ZL doesn’t have front facing buttons, whereas the GS3, GS4, and Note II do.

I’m left scratching my head. Samsung likely has the engineering talent to shove a 5.9 inch screen inside a body that used to house a 5.5 inch panel, but if they did then it would mean sacrificing front facing buttons.

Are they ready to do that?