Apple might be developing its largest iPhone ever, featuring a 5.8-inch screen along with a major switch to OLED from its traditional LCD displays. If true, it would mark a drastic change from its existing 5.5-inch iPhone screen size, which was a radical departure from the standard 4-inch iPhone in 2014.
According to a pre-publication report by DigiTimes via Motley Fool, the biggest iPhone, which is said to be called the iPhone Pro, would see the light of the day within the next two years. The report adds that Samsung has been picked as the primary source for the supply of OLED panels while other manufacturers – LG and Japan Display – would join the bandwagon later.
Apple's decision to use OLED displays for future iPhones has been in news for quite some time. Apple is expected to bring 50 million iPhones with OLED displays in the first year of availability, DigiTimes sources in the supply chain revealed.
Apple might not rest at OLED integration as its innovation pipeline might bring out a foldable and flexible OLED display for future iPhones, DisplayMate's Ray Soneira told MacRumors pointing towards some related patents filed by the company in September 2015. With the use of flexible displays, Apple would be able to eliminate the bezels from the sides of the iPhone and integrate useful functions or gestures, something that Samsung has done with its flagships Galaxy S6 edge and S7 edge.
"OLED displays can also be manufactured on flexible substrates, which allows the screens to be curved and rounded like on Samsung's Galaxy Edge and Galaxy Round displays," Soneira explained. "Right now the curved flexible OLED displays are protected under rigid glass, but in the near future OLED products will be foldable and flexible."
OLED displays have better advantage as they are thinner, lighter and offer better viewing angles. It is that nature of the OLED displays that will attract Apple, which has been exploring new ways to make its iPhones slimmer. Several publications in recent months, including The Korean Times, Japan's business daily Nikkei and Bloomberg, have said the first iPhone with an OLED display would finally be launched in 2018.
Apple's 5.8-inch iPhone might go directly against Samsung's Galaxy Note series. But the company is not giving up on its standard 4-inch iPhone as rumours suggest a new iPhone SE is going to be launched as early as March 15.
Rumours about Apple's main flagship, the iPhone 7 series, have already started making the rounds, too. The Cupertino based tech titan is expected to integrate groundbreaking technologies into its new iPhones, which would launch in September, ranging from waterproof build, wireless charging, dual camera setup, among other hardware related upgrades.
