In just a matter of months, a more than a dozen companies cloned the iPhone X. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where people are actually surprised when an Android device maker comes out with a new phone that doesn’t have a notch. Apple’s three 2018 iPhones, meanwhile, are all supposed to have the same iPhone X all-screen-with-a-notch design, but the cheaper model might disappoint some fans. A new report says the handset may be just as ugly as all the Android-powered clones we’ve seen.
To cut costs, Android device makers that have already adopted the iPhone X design decided that copying the top side of the iPhone X is good enough. That means the big bottom bezel, often lovingly referred to as a chin, can still be found on all of these knockoffs.
To pull off the iPhone X’s bezel-less design, Apple came up with an ingenious way of taking advantage of the flexible OLED screens that Samsung makes. The screen curves behind itself at the bottom so that the display controller can be placed behind the screen, and the need for a bottom bezel is negated. Android device makers, as you’ve guessed by now, do not use these screens. That’s why their phones have a bottom chin, whether they use LCD or OLED screens.
Getting back to the cheaper 2018 iPhone X successor, Apple’s new 6.1-inch LCD model that could be priced as low as $550 might come with a chin. That’s because LCD screens do not bend like the special flexible OLED screens in the iPhone X, although we have seen reports saying that some display makers out there are prototyping flexible LCD screens.
While it’ll be a while until Apple shows off the 2018 iPhones, a new Rosenblatt note to investors seen by Apple Insider mentions the cheaper iPhone X’s design. Analyst Jun Zhang expects Apple to make 60 million LCD iPhone models this year, and 50 million OLED models. The LCD iPhone X could cost in the $799 range, the analyst believes, a price that might convince iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s users to upgrade.
To make this iPhone X successor as affordable, Apple will supposedly replace OLED with LCD tech and use a different type of metal for the frame instead of stainless steel. The LCD iPhone X is also expected to pack a single-lens camera on the back, and it’ll reportedly lack 3D touch.
The analyst says that the phone will have a notch at the top, but also a chine at the bottom. The change, as we explained, would likely be related to the use of LCD screens.
