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Next year’s new iPhones will all finally get the iPhone X’s best feature

Published May 29th, 2018 8:51AM EDT
iPhone X Release Date
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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We love the new design of Apple’s iPhone X. Released in November last year, the tenth-anniversary iPhone ushered in a new design that will soon make its way to every new iPhone in Apple’s lineup. The absence of a home button and a bit of engineering wizardy allowed Apple to adopt a sleek new design where the display extends nearly all the way to the bottom of the phone. Then, since there’s no longer any room for a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, a nifty notch was cut out of the top of the screen for a distinctive design. Well, it was distinctive until every Android phone maker on the planet copied it.

The aluminum back found on earlier iPhone models was ditched on the iPhone X in favor of glass to support wireless charging. Apple’s new vertically oriented dual-lens camera is the best camera we’ve ever seen on an iPhone, and the navigation gestures Apple introduced on the iPhone X are fantastic and natural. In fact, they’re so good that they’ve become yet another thing Google is borrowing for the Android platform.

In 2018, all three of the new iPhones Apple is expected to release in September will adopt the key design features Apple introduced on last year’s iPhone X. But according to a new report, the best thing about the iPhone X won’t make it to each of Apple’s three new iPhones until next year.

Last week, BGR was the first site to show you what is likely the first major component leak from Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup. Sadly, the leak came along with a disappointing typo.

The photo in question appears to show the 6.1-inch displays Apple is having produced for the new mid-range iPhone model it will introduce later this year. The China-based leaker who posted the photo said that they were 6.1-inch OLED screens, but this was almost certainly a mistake. According to former KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s 6.1-inch iPhone will use LCD screens on this model to keep the cost down.

Samsung Display manufactures the OLED screens on Apple’s iPhone X. As we all know, Samsung makes what are by far the most stunning smartphone screens on the planet, and the one on the iPhone X is no exception; the iPhone X’s display is easily the best thing about the phone. Now, good news comes from Korean tech news site ET News, which reports that every new iPhone Apple releases in 2019 will feature an OLED display — even the mid-range model.

“‘Apple recently started planning the iPhone model in 2019 and decided to adopt OLED in all three types,’ said an official from Apple,” a machine-translated version of the ET News article reads. The report also mentions a second source who corroborates the claim that all new iPhone models will get OLED screens in 2019.

It’s obviously far too early to state anything conclusive about Apple’s iPhone lineup that will be released next year. In fact, Apple likely hasn’t even finalized its plans yet. The company is definitely moving away from LCD screens and toward OLED displays in its smartphones, however, so seeing every new iPhone next year pack an OLED panel wouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.