iPhone 15 sounding uninteresting? The next iPhones could have bezel-free displays

The iPhone 15 rumors have given us a good suggestion of what to anticipate from Apple’s next smartphones – briefly, refreshed designs, USB-C ports, higher cameras and improved battery lives. But in the event you’re hankering for one thing extra radical, the iPhone 15’s successors could convey bezel-free OLED displays, in response to new experiences.

The dependable Korean information website The Elec experiences that Apple has requested its foremost display screen suppliers (Samsung and LG Display) to develop “bezel-less iPhone OLED” displays for future fashions. 

This rumor was additionally amplified by the cellphone leaker Ice Universe on Twitter (beneath), who means that Apple can be aiming to develop a “unibody glass body,” whereas on the identical time utilizing a “new type of ultra-strong and strong glass”.

In idea, then, we could quickly lastly see the bezel-free iPhone that is been rumored for a number of years, going again to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. Of course, the iPhone’s bezels have shrunk significantly since these telephones, with the iPhone 15 anticipated to have the thinnest ones seen thus far on an iPhone (apparently measuring simply 1.55mm, truth followers).

But these newest rumors recommend that iPhones could quickly successfully be glass slabs. albeit not with the curved-edge displays we have seen on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. That’s as a result of, in response to The Elec, Apple has turned down Samsung’s curved show tech because of the “optical distortion” it will probably create, alongside its vulnerability to exterior shocks.

Instead, the problem for Samsung and LG Display is to create a bezel-free show with the iPhone’s conventional flat display screen design, which is not any imply feat. According to The Elec, this can require some developments in applied sciences like under-panel cameras and “thin film encapsulation”, plus bending the circuits that at present sit within the iPhone’s bezels beneath the show.

In different phrases, there could also be an excessive amount of to perform for the bezel-free design to reach in time for the iPhone 16, with 2025 wanting a extra probably timeframe given the challenges concerned. Still, in order for you a very futuristic iPhone that makes the iPhone 15 look previous hat, it could be price holding onto your present one for just a bit bit longer.

Analysis: Do we actually want a bezel-free iPhone?

The iPhone 15 is not anticipated to be a radical leap ahead for Apple’s smartphones – and apart from the addition of the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, each mannequin on this yr’s lineup is anticipated to have the identical show as its predecessor.

But this does not essentially imply {that a} bezel-free iPhone, which has been rumored for a number of years now, would essentially be an enormous leap ahead. Sure, a glass slab would look nice out of the field, however would not a cellphone case profit from having a small body across the display screen to grip onto?

Then there are all of the potential points round fragility, slipperiness and unintended display screen touches. As TechRadar’s US Mobile Editor Philip Berne has argued, bezels aren’t themselves a serious blight on immediately’s telephones – as he says, “improvements to the bezel design aren’t worth getting excited over, not unless you’re an engineer”.

Still, it is also exhausting to not yearn for a radical shakeup of the iPhone’s design and a glass iPhone will surely look futuristic (till you set it in a case). So whereas the iPhone 16 Pro is anticipated to ship under-display Face ID and a digicam that may lastly compete with Samsung for zoom, it appears like that cellphone’s successor could lastly be the one to ship the long-awaited ‘bezel zero’ – whether or not you need it or not.