WSJ: Next iPhone to Use ‘In-Cell Technology’ for Thinner Screen

The Wall Street Journal has just published a story that notes the next generation iPhone will use a new technology that will enable a thinner screen:

Apple Inc.’s next iPhone, currently being manufactured by Asian component makers, will use a new technology that makes the smartphone’s screen thinner, people familiar with the matter said, as the U.S. technology giant strives to improve technological features amid intensifying competition from Samsung Electronics Co. and other rivals.

The supposed LCD makers include Sharp, Japan Display Inc., and LG are currently mass producing these panels for Apple, which according to sources is using ‘in-cell technology’. According to Hiroshi Hayase, a DisplaySearch analyst, he note the new tech embeds touch sensors into the LCD which forgoes the need to have a separate touch-screen layer, therefore saving a half millimetre and also increasing the quality of displayed images.

A thinner display will also result in a slimmer next-generation iPhone, but sources also note the manufacturing process of the new ‘in-cell technology’ is proving to be difficult to be time-consuming and harder to achieve high yield rates. With Apple adopting this new technology for its LCD displays, the WSJ notes Taiwan’s Wintek and TPK Holding, which supplied displays for the iPhone 4S will suffer as they didn’t get orders for the new iPhone.

An earlier WSJ report in May noted the next iPhone screen will be at least 4-inches.

The next generation ‘iPhone 5’ is widely rumoured to debut once again this Fall. Earlier it was rumoured the supply chain factories in China had already started production on the next phone, which should also include LTE a larger screen.

 

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