There are plenty of rumors regarding the changes planned for the next-year iPhone 8, and a new report that was published today comes to more or less confirm something that we’ve heard before about this new model.
The WSJ reports via sources with knowledge of the matter that Apple is internally evaluating no less than 10 prototypes of the iPhone 8, one of which comes with a curved screen.
While this isn’t the first time we hear about a curved screen iPhone, the new report aligns with the previous speculation on the next-generation model, and Apple seems to be more inclined onto building an iPhone that comes with such a display.
The company has reportedly asked suppliers to increase the output of OLED displays, as at least one of the iPhones to see daylight next year are likely to adopt this technology. Apple is currently using LCD screens on its phones, but the company is exploring ways to introduce OLED on one of the 2017 iPhones.
It’s believed, however, that Apple wants to make the OLED screen available on just one iPhone exclusively because the firm wants to avoid using Samsung suppliers for this model.
Samsung is currently the leading OLED screen manufacturer, and it’s believed that the other companies, including LG and Japan Display, cannot align production of OLED panels with estimated demand for all iPhones, and this is one of the reasons the Cupertino firm plans to offer this tech on just one model.
“We will invest in developing OLED mass-production lines because that is what our clients want, but the foundation of our business will remain LCD,” Japan Display Chief Executive Mitsuru Homma was quoted as saying.
What’s also very interesting is that Apple is pressing its suppliers to build OLED screens that feature a bigger resolution than the ones that Samsung is currently using on its smartphones. Apple clearly wants the next-generation iPhone to offer better display quality than Samsung’s models, but the South Koreans will also introduce the new S8 flagship early next year, thus making it even more difficult for Cupertino to achieve its goal.