“Apple tests foldable OLED screen” – launched in 2025?
Recent data suggests that Apple is moving forward with the testing of foldable mobile screens. To succeed, the OLED panels are built in a completely new way, according to sources.
Ny Teknik has previously reported that Apple is conducting tests of a foldable mobile or tablet with a 9-inch screen, according to the well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
“Thinner oled screens”
Now the South Korean site The Elec has published fresh information that can reveal new details about Apple’s foldable screens.
According to informants that The Elec has been in contact with, Apple is developing a new type of oled screen where the polarizing filter has been removed. By removing the filter layer from the screens, it should be possible for Apple to build thinner, foldable OLED panels.
The polarizing filter is one of several layers in an OLED screen, and has the function of counteracting reflections in the screen.
Can affect battery life?
The disadvantage of building OLED panels without polarizing filters is that the brightness of the screen must be increased as compensation – which in turn has a negative effect on battery life.
Samsung, which also develops OLED screens without polarizing filters, wants to solve the problem by replacing the above layers with a color filter.
As an example, a polarizing filter adds a thickness of 50-100 micrometers, or microns, to an OLED screen. A layer consisting of a color filter is in its side only up to 5 micrometers thick.
“Higher resolution on the screen”
Previous data claims that the pixel density on Apple’s widening screens for mobiles and tablets should be somewhere between an Iphone and an Ipad, but the specifications may change. The units currently being tested are said to be there to evaluate several key technologies.
For several years there has been speculation that Apple is developing devices with folding screens. However, some actual products have been delayed despite competitors such as Samsung and Huawei having foldable phones for sale for several years.
I expected Apple to launch a foldable iPhone as soon as 2024 in my reports last year, but now it’s clear this prediction needs to be revised. I predict Apple may launch its first foldable product in 2025 at the earliest, which may be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad & iPhone. https://t.co/HGIDPFvdar
– ing 錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) April 1, 2022
Released later than expected
Ming-Chi Kuo has previously speculated that Apple will release its first foldable device in 2024, but now estimates that it will happen in 2025 at the earliest.
First out will probably be a “foldable Ipad or a hybrid between an Ipad and an Iphone”, writes Ming-Chi Kuo on Twitter.
He estimates that Apple will start with foldable screens in medium size, and then switch to larger screens (such as more solid tablets) first to finally work with foldable screens in the same size as today’s Iphones.
At the same time, a report comes from the site The Elec that Apple and LG are developing foldable OLED panels for computers and tablets. These should use a very thin, foldable glass panel as protection instead of the protective cover in plastic that is on today’s foldable screens.
