Apple has reportedly asked their OLED screen suppliers LG and Samsung to develop a screen with absolutely no bezels.
The Elec says Apple has asked the two suppliers to get rid of the bezel on its OLED displays. The bezel is the small black line at the edge of screens. Phone makers want to reduce the bezel size to an absolute minimum not only because it’s aesthetically unpleasant, but also because it robs the screen of usable place.
Apple is tipped to announce an iPhone 15 Pro Max in September with a record breaking 1.55mm wide bezel, compared to 2.17mm on the iPhone 14 Pro. But Apple wants to shoot further with an iPhone with no bezel whatsoever, says the report.
However, this is no easy ask and development could take years.
The Elect report says the project will take years as the two Korean display manufacturers will have “to bend the circuits under the bezel area. They will also need to secure enough area for the antenna that can function without interruption”, the report says.
“The encapsulation will need to become even thinner while the under panel camera area must also blend perfectly with the rest of the screen for the perfect visual effect,” it says.
Some Samsung phones create an illusion of a zero bezel display by bending the glass at the edges of the screen downwards. Elec reports that Apple doesn’t want to do that; it wants its display to be totally flat.
Macworld meanwhile says Apple is working with its partners to perfect a camera that can be housed under the screen. This would allow it to get rid of the black notch at the top of the screen. This type of camera is already available on some Android phones, but is not of the quality wanted by Apple, it says.
