Apple has requested that Samsung and LG Display develop a bezel-less OLED panel for an upcoming iPhone. According to the Korean version of The Elec, these manufacturers need to improve thin-film encapsulation (TFE) and under-panel camera (UPC) technologies to deliver what Apple wants.
While the iPhone 15 Pro is already rumored to feature thinner bezels, the Cupertino firm aims for a mobile device with no bezels at all. The Elec says Samsung offered a curved edge display, which the company applies to some of the flagship Galaxy S phones. Still, Apple wants to maintain the iPhone’s flat display and angular design on the side of the product.
One of the reasons why Apple has rejected the current technology is that curved displays can make the edges more breakable and cause panel distortion, which, of course, the Cupertino firm doesn’t want.
This report corroborates another analysis by Ross Young, a well-known display insider. He says that by 2025, Apple wants to apply under-panel Face ID technology, and by 2027, it wants the whole phone to have all sensors behind the screen. These technology improvements will come first to the iPhone Pro models, while the regular versions will get Always-On Display and ProMotion by 2025 and under panel Face ID by 2027.
While this seems so far in the future, The Elec notes that the smartphone industry still strives to create a display close to full screen while reducing bezels. Not only does this display need to feature high-quality images, but it needs to make the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors work as if they were visible to users.
That said, it’s unclear if Apple plans to kill or reduce Dynamic Island. Since it still feels empty after almost a year of existence, the Cupertino firm might be planning to make it smaller as it adds sensors under the panel, or it will use it as a tweak due to possible limitations of this bezel-less design.
BGR will keep reporting on upcoming iPhone models and Apple talks with its supply chain.
