Apple, it's rumored, will release three new iPhones this Fall (there may also be a new iPhone SE before then, but it's the autumn handsets we're focusing on here). Two may follow the iPhone X with OLED screens but the third is expected to use LCD. That would certainly make it more affordable to make, but the latest rumor indicates that a new technology developed by LG could offer an improved screen.
In the last few days, Patently Apple has suggested that LG's MLCD screen tech could power this iPhone.
As the site points out, an LCD iPhone would be able to hit a lower price point (though it's unlikely to be cheap, this is Apple we're talking about, after all, where higher quality always trounces lower price).
And now a report in Business Korea and picked up by 9to5Mac, seems to confirm Patently Apple's speculation.
So what, you say?
Well, if right, it could mean an iPhone that looks like the current iPhone X, complete with near bezel-free, all-screen front might be available at a much more accessible price while still sporting a display that has an improved picture quality with a wider color gamut.
Here's the tech behind it: where LCD screens have pixels made up of three differently-coloured sub-pixels (red, green and blue), M+, the panel technology developed by LG, has an extra one that's white. The white pixel is especially bright as there's no color filter on it. The filter in each color reduces brightness, that is, it uses more energy to hit the same level of brightness.
So, with a white sub-pixel unfettered by filter, less energy can deliver a brighter result. With a thin computer like a smartphone, every energy-saving detail can help. There are said to be benefits in terms of peak brightness, sharpness and even legibility on screen as well.
This kind of display will be seen on the LG G7 ThinQ smartphone when it arrives in the next month or two, which will give us an idea of what Apple might have up its sleeve. LG is marketing the upcoming screen as a Super Bright Display.
I will say, I'm slightly sceptical about all this. After all, Apple's current LCD screens, on every single iPhone apart from the X, are outstanding, with great color fidelity. Also, these screens have the wide viewing angle that IPS displays offer (and which OLED doesn't always match).
Patently Apple's take is a knowledgeable and intriguing piece of speculation but the Business Korea article is light on details, saying "According to the smartphone industry on May 9, Apple is expected to load its next 6.1-inch iPhone model with an MLCD+ display which LG used in its G7 ThinQ smartphone." There's no source here, so it could just be referencing another speculative story or even Patently Apple's article itself.
But Apple is always looking to improve its products. Current LCD screens, as 9to5Mac points out, have limitations in terms of just how little bezel you can put around them. And it's always seemed likely that there would be a new iPhone with an LCD screen this year, just as 2017 saw two LCD iPhones and one OLED.
Perhaps Apple will choose between a conventional LCD screen and bigger bezels or a newer tech like this. As Gordon Kelly pointed out last month on Forbes, this purported LCD iPhone might omit 3D Touch.
It's still four months until the 2018 iPhones are expected, so there's plenty of time for more details to become more likely, or be thrown out altogether.
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