Apple to introduce "iPhone with curved display in 2017"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Apple Inc. has come up with three new iPhone models for next year, including a premium handset that will sport a curved display like the one Samsung Electronics has adopted for its top-of-the-range smartphones, the Nikkei Asian Review reported citing a source familiar with Apple's plans.

"There will be a 4.7-inch model, another that will be 5.5-inches and a premium handset that will be either 5.5-inches or larger equipped with a screen bent on the two sides," the source said, adding the first two will continue to have flat screens, like current Apple mobile devices.

Apple's planned iPhone overhaul next year shows the growing pressure the No. 2 smartphone brand by shipments faces from the Android camp, spearheaded by Samsung, in a saturated market.

David Hsieh, a senior director at market research specialist IHS DisplaySearch, said that while the premium handset will adopt advanced organic light-emitting diode panels, the other two models will stick with low-temperature poly-silicon panels. Compared with LTPS screens, OLEDs offer sharper color contrast. And while LTPS panels are rigid, OLED displays are flexible and allow manufacturers to create curved and even foldable screens, the Nikkei Asian Review.

Samsung Electronics is the only company at the moment that offers the flexible OLED screens. The South Korean conglomerate was the global leader in smartphone shipments last year and in the first quarter of 2016 and the only smartphone maker that offers curved OLED displays. It introduced curved displays with the Galaxy Note Edge and Galaxy 6 Edge last year. Its latest product lineup includes two premium handsets, the Galaxy 7 Edge and Note 7, with curved screens

Hsieh said that Samsung Electronics will be Apple's sole OLED supplier next year but that the Suwon-based company will not be able to fully meet demand for both itself and its U.S. customer next year.