What is 3:2 aspect ratio? The Microsoft Surface and Huawei notebook format

How this is calculated

The 3:2 ratio matches the aspect ratio of 35mm film stills and is very close to the A-series paper standard (A4 is 1:√2 ≈ 1:1.414, while 3:2 is 1:1.5). This means documents, PDFs, and web pages fit with less wasted horizontal margin. The trade-off is that 3:2 panels are uncommon and more expensive, with fewer high-refresh-rate or OLED options. Video content shows significant letterboxing, which bothers some users.

Verdict

The geometry is the actual case: 3:2 is the aspect ratio of 35mm film stills and sits very close to A4 paper proportions (A4 is roughly 1:1.414, 3:2 is 1:1.5), which is why documents, PDFs, and web pages fit with less wasted horizontal margin and a Surface in OneNote shows nearly a full page without scrolling. At 14 inches, 3:2 shows about 10-15% more vertical content than 16:10, a real but smaller jump than 16:9 to 16:10. The trade is real too: 3:2 is uncommon, which means fewer high-refresh or OLED options at the same price point, and 16:9-targeted video shows significant letterboxing. Microsoft and Huawei (MateBooks) ship 3:2 because the Surface-Pen annotation workflow genuinely benefits. mixed-use buyers tend to land back on 16:10 for the broader media and game compatibility.