Concept imagines Jony Ive’s ‘single slab of glass’ goal for future iPhones

It seems pretty clear by this stage that Apple is aiming for a near-bezel-free iPhone 8, but while we’ve heard multiple reports of a fingerprint reader embedded into the display, it seems likely that there will still be some top bezel for the camera, speaker and light sensor.

However, with Jony Ive reportedly eventually aiming for the iPhone to appear like a single sheet of glass, a new concept image shows how that ambitious goal might look …

Daniel Csonth’s idea that this is what we can expect from the iPhone 8 may be exceedingly unlikely, but it is already possible to embed speakers and light sensors within displays, and there are at least ideas about how do to the same with cameras, so it’s a vision that is likely to be realized at some point.

Csonth suggests an interim workaround in the form of a circular ‘hole’ in the display to allow the camera to peek through the screen.

A KGI report suggests that Apple may be aiming for a compromise in which the screen appears to reach all the way to the bottom of the phone, but the lower section is reserved for a ‘function area‘ that would include the embedded Home button and fingerprint sensor. It has also been speculated that the status bar at the top of the iPhone could be relocated to this area, maximizing the usable screen area at the top of the phone.

Any full-screen iPhone would of course need to have excellent palm-rejection, to ensure that content at the edges of the screen was not inadvertently activated merely by holding the phone. This is, however, an area where Apple already excels, the massive trackpad on the 2016 MacBook Pro demonstrating the ease with which it ignores accidental touches.

What do you think of the ‘single sheet of glass’ concept? Appealing or impractical? Take our poll, and share your views in the comments.