Technology

You have to also consider that when 5" was big, bezels were big too. With today's thin bezels the same physical size that used to hold 5" could probably hold 5.5".

I loath them because I don't have pockets

This is especially an issue for women, who often have more form-fitting clothing that either doesn't have pockets or have very small ones that don't work for phones.

I think that the usual solution for "women carrying things" is that many are gonna carry a purse -- if someone's pre-menopause, they're gonna need pads or tampons anyway, so can put it in there. Problem is that the phone breaks this. Even if women have a purse, women don't always carry their purse all around the office or house or whatever, but don't want to miss calls.

My mother got a fanny pack just for her phone (which isn't even all that large).

At one point in the past, it used to be common for women to wear a bag on a belt accessible through a slit in their skirt.

https://pieceworkmagazine.com/a-brief-history-of-the-pocket-in-womens-fashion/

The first examples of pockets began to be inserted into men’s clothing at the end of the 1600s. Before this construction development, illustrations show that men used small pouches, which hung from a belt around the waist. These separate pouches could be concealed inside of a coat or tunic. The words pouch and pocket are related, through the Middle English/Northern French word pouche, originally describing a small bag.

For women, pockets remained an accessory that tied around the waist and was accessed through an opening in a skirt’s seam. The full skirts of the 1700s allowed these pockets to be easily hidden.

The shift by women to pants kinda killed that option.

I think that the solution is gonna be some women's clothier figuring out how to make an appealing way of carrying a phone.

Lara Croft runs around with thigh holsters. That way, the carrying system is clearly distinct from the body, doesn't mess with the body silhouette, which I assume is why women don't want male-style large pocket, non-form-fitting clothing. So maybe something like that would work. Dunno how much of a chafing issue that is.

EDIT: Drop bags are kinda in the neighborhood of what I'm thinking of too, though I'm thinking lower-slung and smaller: