Apple is facing technical challenges in achieving a bezel-less display on the iPhone, but has already started to address them!
The absence of the notch and thinner bezels are set to be the main novelties of the iPhone 15 according to some leaked images. Well, this change would just be the beginning of a transformation on the iPhone screen, which aims to eliminate the thickness of the bezels in the generations that we will know in the medium term.
According to a publication shared from the Asian medium The Elec, Apple asked Samsung and LG Display to develop the new OLED display panels, with the intention of implementing them while keeping the current design of the iPhone. Everything indicates that the bitten apple will avoid resorting to the curved screens offered by other brands of smartphones with ultra-thin bezels, due to concerns about optical distortion and durability.
An iPhone without bezels could arrive in 2025
To cater to the request for the new OLED display panels, it was discovered that Samsung Display and LG Display are developing organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that remove all bezels from the iPhone’s front display. Apple reportedly wants bezel-less displays to facilitate improved thin-film encapsulation (TFE) and under-panel camera (UPC) technology, as well as increase space for components like antennas and reduce interference. And keeping a design with a flat screen allows for these improvements, which would not be possible today with a curved screen.
If Apple’s plans go ahead, the company could offer the frameless OLED display with the launch of the iPhone 17 Pro in 2025. Despite the wait for the iPhone 15 this 2023, since it is rumored that the iPhone 17 would be the first to present Face ID technology under the screen, along with a hole-shaped cutout for the front camera.
Besides, Apple would like to offer a bezel-less version before introducing its own custom microLED display technology on future iPhones.. Thus, the Apple Watch Ultra of 2025, which will already be thinner from this year, would be the first device with a microLED screen, while the iPhone will follow it in the following years.
Apple’s goal will not be easy to achieve. Therefore, the company decided to minimize the front bezel of the iPhone as a previous step to this. LG Display’s recent failure to meet Apple’s requirements is also related to Apple’s attempt to make the lower front bezel of the iPhone 15 Pro line slimmer, rather than non-existent.