Japan Display Inc., which has supplied Apple with display panels for its iPhones, is all set to build a flexible display that could potentially find its way to future smartphones from the Cupertino company.
The display manufacturer has announced the Full Active Flex, which is basically an LCD screen that touts flexible properties. This display is reportedly able to take a curved shape like Samsung's Galaxy S7 edge. However, unlike the Samsung smartphone, this panel gets its ability due to the deployment of plastic vis-à-vis glass substrate.
"With FULL ACTIVE FLEX it is easily possible to form curved shapes by utilizing its flexibility, and thus it will greatly help to expand the degrees of freedom in smartphone design. Also, by using plastic substrates instead of glass, it is possible to prevent cracking from occurring when the display is dropped," shares the company.
Full Active Flex: The Specs
The latest panel from Japan Display is a 5.5-inch FHD IPS display, which has nearly 500 nits of brightness. This is similar to what the iPhone 7 Plus boasts.
However, Japan Display has lowered the frequency at which the screen gets refreshed, setting the refresh rate to only 15 cycles in a second. Thanks to this breakthrough, Japan Display has been able to achieve "a significant decrease of power consumption" which augurs well for future-gen smartphones that will deploy this panel.
Future iPhones To Rock The Flexible Display?
That Japan Display supplies components for the iPhone is no secret. Therefore, it will not be surprising if the company's flexible displays make their way to future iPhones. While the technology may not be used for the iPhone 8, slated for a 2017 release, the future variants of the Apple smartphone could benefit from this technology. This is because the curved display from the company will likely not be mass produced till 2018.
Apple And Foldable Smartphones
In November 2016, reports suggested that Apple had received a patent for a foldable iPhone, which led to assumptions that the iPhone maker was looking to release phones which could bend and fold to a certain extent.
The whole idea of a flexible screen technology is quite different compared to the bendable variants. It will probably take some more time before a foldable smartphone is launched into the market.
Rumors have also hinted that Apple may introduce its first-ever flexible AMOLED display on the next-gen iPhone this year.
Flexible display handsets are highly expensive. Therefore, interested buyers will have to wait a while before they can lay their hands on such phones.
Other Uses Of Japan Display's Technology
Apart from the possibility of the Full Active Flex being used on smartphones, the company can also offer it for automotive applications, notebook PCs etc.
