On May 10, According to TheElec, Apple has begun to develop an OLED panel that does not use polarizers, and the removal of polarizers can make the display panel thinner and can be applied to foldable devices, seemingly hinting at the possibility of Apple developing foldable iPhones.
The role of the polarizer is to filter and filter invalid light, allowing only specific light to pass through, thereby improving the readability of the display, similar to the 3D glasses worn when watching movies. However, the polarizer will affect the luminous efficiency of the display panel, so manufacturers need to offset the side effects of the polarizer by increasing the power of the panel.
Xiao Lei learned that the first manufacturer to produce a polarizer-free OLED panel was Samsung Display, and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 was the first folding screen model to use polarizer-free panel technology. Samsung Display prints a layer of color filter on the thin film package and adds a black pixel definition layer to provide clearer colors for the folding screen flagship without compromising brightness.
In general, most of the OLED panels required for iPhones are provided by Samsung Display, and the display panel may not be the focus of Apple's development. Xiao Lei believes that the company may only use the existing polarizer-free technology to customize it, and may eventually hand it over to Samsung to produce.
Nowadays, under the crazy "inner roll" of Android manufacturers, the folding screen flagship has become quite mature, the price is more appropriate, the folding hinge is getting lighter and thinner, and the screen crease is becoming less and less obvious. Logically, Apple can find a mature in-folding scheme to "copy the job" and make a foldable iPhone.
But for the folding screen, whether it is consumers or Apple, the most important thing is practicality and reliability. Although the folding screen mobile phone is very mature, it is still far inferior to the conventional straight-board mobile phone in terms of waterproof, dustproof and fallproof. Besides, the hinge, screen, etc. of the folding mobile phone, which part of the folding mobile phone bumps, the damage rate is also very high, after all, users do not necessarily like to supply the mobile phone.
Of course, in Xiao Lei's view, even if the protective performance of the folding screen is solved, Apple will not necessarily join the track of the folding screen, and its product line has been quite fixed, and consumers can directly buy iPads in the case of large screen demand. If the introduction of folding iPhones, it is likely to affect the sales of tablets, Apple naturally does not need to open an extra product line in order to show muscle, "backstabbing" its own other products.