iPhone 7 Concept Video Features OLED Screen Without Bezel, Home Button [Watch]
An iPhone 7 concept phone has surfaced on YouTube featuring a screen without bezels or a physical home button.
According to BGR, the screen on the phone is also OLED. Although the device in the video is just a concept, it could indicate what Apple plans to do with the popular smartphone line in the future.
OLED Screens to Come
Apple plans to work with LG and Samsung in the future to create OLED screens for iPhones by 2018. Apple has been working to produce a screen that is lighter and thinner than anything yet offered, while also making the device more energy-efficient. OLED screens would help the company accomplish those goals, while also offering richer and brighter colors than LED screens.
OLED screens are more expensive than other displays like LED screens, but if Apple were to partner with both LG and Samsung, engineers might be able to find a way to keep costs down. In 2015, LG said they want to have an OLED manufacturing plant up and running by early 2018. That would probably be right on schedule for Apple's product cycle, meaning they could produce the iPhone 8 with the new screen technology.
Virtual Home Button
The concept iPhone 7 in the video also lacks a physical home button. This is something that Apple has reportedly been considering as well. The company's own patents show that removing the physical home button would allow a future iPhone to have a bigger wrap around screen with no bezels getting in the way.
The concept phone uses the extra screen space to take advantage of 3D Touch. Instead of having to press the home button to return to the home screen, the home button would be virtual, requiring users to tap the screen to call up the function. When the home button is no longer needed, it would disappear and allow for other things to be displayed on the screen.
Apple certainly seems interested in developing OLED screens further, and this concept phone may show how such a device will look in the future.
Watch the video of the concept phone in action below.
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