Apple Working on Touchless Control and Curved iPhone Screen
Apple Working on Touchless Control and Curved iPhone
Screen
Company seeks to differentiate design in crowded
marketplace
IPhone X’s OLED screen also expanding to additional
models
By Mark Gurman April 4, 2018, 4:00 AM PDT
Apple Inc. is working on touchless gesture control and
curved screens for future iPhones, projects that may help the company differentiate
its most-important product in an increasingly crowded market, according to
people with knowledge of the matter.
The control feature would let iPhone users perform some
tasks by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it.
The technology likely won’t be ready for consumers for at least two years, if
Apple chooses to go forward with it, a person familiar with the work said.
Apple has long embraced new ways for humans to interact
with computers. Co-Founder Steve Jobs popularized the mouse in the early 1980s.
Apple’s latest iPhones have a feature called 3D Touch that responds differently
depending on different finger pressures. The new gesture technology would take
into account the proximity of a finger to the screen, the person said.
Apple is also developing iPhone displays that curve
inward gradually from top to bottom, one of the people familiar with the
situation said. That’s different than the latest Samsung smartphone screens,
which curve down at the edges. So far, every iPhone model has used a flat
display. The iPhone X’s OLED screen curves slightly at the bottom, but the
shape is mostly invisible to the human eye.
OLED, or organic light emitting diode, displays can be
shaped into curves or even folded, unlike the less-flexible LCD screen
technology used in prior iPhones. A curved iPhone may be as little as two to
three years away, the person said. Apple is also working on new screen
technology, known as MicroLED, but that’s at least three to five years away,
Bloomberg News reported last month.
Both features are still in the early research and
development stage and Apple could choose to not go forward with the
enhancements. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
The work comes as the Cupertino, California-based
smartphone pioneer looks to make its gadgets stand out. Smartphones have become
increasingly similar as Apple, Samsung Electronics Co., Google, and Huawei
Technologies Co. adopt features like full screens, advanced cameras, and facial
recognition at roughly the same time.
In the fourth quarter, Apple was responsible for about 20
percent of smartphone shipments following the launch of the iPhone X and iPhone
8, beating out second place Samsung and Huawei, according to IDC. To stay
ahead, Apple needs compelling new features and designs. Samsung is already
working on a foldable smartphone, while Huawei is seeing increased success in
Asia.
Samsung launched a feature called Air Gestures several
years ago that lets users accept calls and flip through web pages by waving
their hand across the top of the phone. Google’s ATAP research group has been
working on similar technology through a program known as Project Soli. Apple’s
design would require gestures to be closer to the screen than with Project
Soli, the person familiar with the situation said. The feature would be based
on technology built into the display itself rather than via a motion sensor on
the phone’s bezel, like with Samsung’s implementation, the person explained.
While the Apple projects aren’t imminent, the company has
near-term plans to expand OLED technology to more devices, according to other
people familiar with the matter. It will release a second iPhone with that type
of screen later this year; a larger model with a 6.5-inch screen, up from the
5.8-inch size in the current iPhone X. The company is also working on an update
to the iPhone X’s size and a new, lower-cost LCD model.
To access adequate OLED supplies for these new devices,
Apple is expanding its sourcing from Samsung to also include LG Display, the
people said.
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