It’s not even 2017 yet, and already the rumor mill is churning away with fresh mumblings from Silicon Valley — many of what we’ve heard so far having to do with the Apple’s vastly reengineered ‘iPhone 8’ that’s due to be unveiled by the fall of next year. And while many of these rumors have so far painted the picture of a top-tier, glass-bodied iPhone boasting a curved OLED display and thin metal frame, a questionable new rumor has surfaced this morning alleging that it’s actually plastic — rather than glass — that will be Apple’s choice of material for constructing its forthcoming, 10th anniversary flagship’s display.
According to the report, which was published Monday morning in The Korea Herald, an anonymous source with knowledge of Apple’s imminent product plans cited that not only will all of the Silicon Valley tech-giant’s OLED-equipped iPhone 8 handsets boast curved displays — a la Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, but Apple will also be relying entirely on Samsung to supply it with the company’s own plastic-based OLED panels.
“The OLED version of the new iPhone will all be curved as Apple ordered all plastic OLED — not glass — from Samsung Display,” a source familiar with Apple’s plans told The Korea Herald, adding that Samsung has the capacity to supply Apple with “a little less than 100 million units of curved OLED displays.”
This revelation, if true, would obviously contradict a number of previous rumors — particularly those indicating that Apple would not be relying on Samsung to supply it with OLED display panels — let alone plastic ones — next year. But rather, as other rumors have suggested, the Cupertino-company might be partnering with LG Display in an effort to obtain flexible OLED panels for its future OLED-equipped devices.
The source also noted how Samsung employs a similar, plastic-based, curved AMOLED display on its popular Galaxy S7 Edge flagship. However, while the source added that Apple could potentially get a leg-up on Samsung’s OLED displays — by employing the company’s own slate of advanced touch sensing technologies — there is no guarantee, unfortunately, that this will ultimately be the case.
“The upcoming iPhone may use new sensing technology, which enables the phone to respond when users touch any side of the device,” the source allegedly told The Korea Herald, cautioning, ironically enough, that Apple might not adopt this technology in the end — we’ll basically just have to wait and see, in other words.
As always, we encourage you to consider these rumors with a heaping grain of salt, especially seeing as how we’re still a few seasons out from seeing even the faintest signs of what Apple’s next iPhone flagship will actually bring to the table — or what it will be constructed of, for that matter. Either way, the sum of rumors currently circulating the web, for what they’re worth, all but confirm that Cupertino has something really special in store for us next fall.
What features would you like to see debut on Apple’s iPhone 8 next year?
Let us know in the comments!