Former Apple design chief Jony Ive had lengthy seen the holy grail of iPhone design to be “a single slab of glass” with none bezels. A brand new supply-chain report says Apple had hoped that the iPhone 18 would see it obtain that goal, nevertheless it now seems unlikely.
The objective, says the report, is to have the whole lot of the entrance of the system be show, with the display screen flowing seamlessly into the edges of the cellphone …
The ‘single slab of glass’ imaginative and prescient
Ive could also be lengthy gone, however the firm is believed to be nonetheless working towards his imaginative and prescient of a tool which might appear like a single slab of glass. From the entrance, you’ll see no bezels in any respect, solely show.
The corporate’s first main step towards that was the launch of the iPhone X again in 2017, however progress since then has been incremental. Bezels have progressively decreased in width, however are nonetheless very a lot in proof.
Eliminating them altogether would require a curved show which bends across the sides of the system. The Apple Watch sort of fakes this look, by hiding the bezels beneath curved glass, however the firm’s objective for the iPhone is for the show to be lively all the way in which into these curved edges.
Samsung achieved this with the edges of its Galaxy Edge sequence, however there have been very substantial brow and chin areas.
What Apple desires is identical factor on all 4 sides.
iPhone 18 was the objective, however wanting unlikely
TheElec experiences that Apple hoped to attain a zero-bezel cellphone in 2026, with no less than one iPhone 18 mannequin, however its show suppliers have been struggling to ship on what the corporate desires.
On the request of Apple, it’s recognized that Samsung Show and LG Show are growing an iPhone natural light-emitting diode (OLED) with no bezel, however […] the discharge of the zero-bezel OLED iPhone is presently unsure in 2026 as a result of there may be not sufficient know-how growth to remove all of the bezels.
An business official mentioned, “If Apple desires to launch a zero-bezel OLED iPhone in 2026, we should always have already completed technical discussions with home panel firms, however we’re nonetheless discussing it.”
Whereas the core objective is possible in the present day, there are sensible challenges which Apple desires to beat earlier than launching the design:
- Making the be part of between curved show and physique waterproof
- Avoiding the “magnifying glass impact” you usually get with curved show edges
- Making certain the antenna nonetheless works successfully
- Addressing the vulnerability of the display screen edges to affect injury
It’s believed Apple’s objective for 2026 would nonetheless have seen a punch-hole digital camera, because the tech wanted to embed the front-facing digital camera beneath the show is unlikely to fulfill the corporate’s high quality requirements by then, however that is the longer-term objective.
Pictures: Important Răzvan Băltărețu (CC2.0); Watch Apple; Galaxy Edge 7 9to5Google
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