All iPhones could get bezel-free screens in 2018

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iPhone X
Apple's next LCD iPhone could look a lot more like this.
Photo: Apple

Apple is reportedly planning on keeping LCD iPhones around for another year after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus — but don’t expect any ordinary, regular LCD displays.

According to a new report, Apple is investigating the possible use of technology known as Full Active LCD screens, a type of advanced liquid crystal display that would allow it to create an LCD handset which looks much closer to the new OLED iPhone X.

The reason Apple cannot do so with its current LCD technology is reportedly because the current LCD screens require Apple to include a border of several millimeters and cannot be curved. That means that it’s physically impossible for Apple to eliminate the handsets’ bezel the way it has done with its edge-to-edge display on the iPhone X.

On the other hand, Full Active LCD screens require an even smaller border than Apple’s OLED displays, along with allowing curved edges. This means that Apple, should it so wish, could create a device that looks like the iPhone X, but retains the cheaper LCD display.

As per the Wall Street Journal, which reported the story, Apple is looking to buy these displays from Japan Display — although it would seem highly unlikely that Apple will have placed any orders so early into the new iPhone cycle. An earlier story from March states that we will have to wait until 2019 before all of Apple’s latest handsets use OLED (or, as Apple describes it, Super Retina) technology.

How much of a factor is OLED vs. LCD in your decision making process when it comes to the iPhone X vs. the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus? Leave your comments below.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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