Apple’s next-gen iPhone will feature an mysterious new redesign, a new report from the Korea Herald relays that Apple’s upper tier iPhone 8 model will feature a curved OLED display panel.
Herald’s sources also revealed that the company has placed an order for Samsung displays that could potentially run into the millions: “The OLED version of the new iPhone will all be curved as Apple ordered all plastic OLED – not glass – from Samsung Display. Samsung is capable of supplying a little less than 100 million units of curved OLED displays to Apple,” sources added.
Intriguing new design for the iPhone 8 is expected in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Apple’s smartphone line.
Past reports have also claimed that Apple is working on three iPhones, featuring different displays next year: two LCD models sized at 4.7- and 5.5-inches, like the iPhone 7, along with a curved OLED product measuring 5.1 to 5.2 inches. One or more of the models could use edge-to-edge displays, potentially forcing Apple to embed some components like the Touch ID sensor.
Apple had been great with its era of capacitive touchscreen smartphones, but its display technology has fallen a little behind in recent years. The AMOLED panels used by smartphone makers like Samsung can beat Apple’s LCDs in every category, therefore Apple might be planning to play catch up with the iPhone 8.
Interestingly, Apple has already adopted OLED displays in the Apple Watch, and at its Sept. 7 product launch event, talked up the display improvements on the second-generation Apple Watch. In particular, the iDevice maker claims that the Apple Watch 2’s display is extremely bright and capable of emitting 1000 nits of light.
It would be really interesting to see whether Apple and its display partners are able to scale this technology up for use on next year’s iPhones.
