Since late 2015, reliable KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed time and time again that the shift to OLED won’t happen until at least 2019. Now, he’s going back on his statement. Apple will release an iPhone with OLED Display, a glass casing, and wireless charging technology by 2017, according to a new KGI report. The presumably iPhone 8, will have a curved display and body with metal sides like the iPhone 4. Kuo also said the iPhone will have a more comfortable grip and narrow bezels.
As previously reported , Apple is rumored to release a 5.8-inch model to replace the traditional 5.5-inch if LG, Japan Display, and Samsung can produce enough AMOLED displays. The smaller 4.7-inch version won’t get the AMOLED screen, but expect an eye or face recognition feature for both sizes. An earlier insider tip from Japanese newspaper, Nikkei , reported Apple will continue to sell iPhones with LCD displays along with OLED because “securing enough panels for the more than 200 million phones Apples ships globally every year will likely prove difficult.”
OLED smartphones have the potential to be thinner, lighter, and more flexible and energy efficient than smartphones using LCD technology. OLED screens tend to produce brighter, more vivid colors with a higher contrast ratio. The hybrid technology uses TFT, the variant of LCD used in most smartphones now, and OLED to create the fastest pixel response time.
Kuo reports Apple is trying to decide between ceramic, glass, and plastic for the casing material. However, he believes Apple will ultimately choose glass. Glass makes the most sense as previous Apple rumors claim the iPhone 8 could get a wraparound display with virtual sidebar buttons. The OLED display would reportedly extend over the edges of the devices, stretching the screen over the existing volume, ringer, and power buttons. Apple calls these ‘virtual buttons’ in a patent describing the technology.
