Samsung has shown off a prototype of a new folding display, and it seems very likely that this is the one that will be used for the iPhone Fold.
Apple had reportedly waited until the company was able to produce a display without a visible crease, and this one looks to fit the bill perfectly. The crease looks completely invisible in a photo and almost so in a video …
Apple’s quest for a creaseless display
Even for a company with Apple’s reputation of letting other companies launch first before it later follows with what it believes to be the best version, the wait for a folding iPhone has been a very lengthy one. Depending on exactly when Apple launches the iPhone Fold, it will be six or seven years after the first folding Android smartphone.
One of the key reasons for that very long wait is that Apple reportedly rejected the idea of a visible crease in the center of the unfolded display. It tasked its display partner Samsung with creating a panel without a noticeable crease – something the Korean company had not yet achieved with its own folding phones.
Samsung reportedly achieved this to Apple’s satisfaction last year, and we later learned that this had been a sufficiently challenging task that the Cupertino company had to get its own design engineers involved.
This is likely the iPhone Fold display
The Verge reports that Samsung Display showed off a new folding screen at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and said that there was no visible crease.
A photo displayed by the company, shown at the top of the piece, looks extremely impressive. Even studying the full-size photo very closely, I can’t see any sign of a crease. Indeed, if I hadn’t known it was a folding display, I would never have guessed.
Another photo shows the Galaxy Z Fold 7 display on the left, with a visible crease down the centre, and the prototype display on the right. The difference between the two is night and day.
You can just about make out a crease in a video posted by SamMobile, who suggests Samsung will also use the display for the next version of the Z Fold.
Top comment by BlueBox
Apple had reportedly waited until the company was able to produce a display without a visible crease
I believe the rumor was Apple custom designed the panel and hinge and all material, and Samsung is merely acting as a producer of what Apple created. So no, Samsung did not make this panel
So in that sense, it seems Samsung is pulling an Intel and aping their work on this and passing it off as their own, like Intel did with the MacBook air's processor that led to "Ultrabook," except worse because Apple made everything in the display
The new display appears to match the reported aspect ratio of the iPhone Fold. As additional evidence, The Verge reports that it was only briefly featured on the company’s stand before it was quickly removed. It seems likely that a communication failure resulted in the team setting up the stand not realizing that what it calls its Advanced Creaseless Display was supposed to be kept under wraps for now.
How tempted are you?
Assuming this is indeed the iPhone fold display, how tempted are you now to buy one, even if it does turn out to be eye-wateringly expensive?
Please share your reactions in the comments.
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Photos: Samsung Display. Video: SamMobile.
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