Mike Wuerthele
A new analyst report tells investors to expect both 5- and 5.8-inch curved, bezel-free iPhones in the future, after visiting production lines and suppliers in China.
According to a research note published by Barclays Research and seen by AppleInsider, an "iPhone 8" design "didn't sound 100% locked down" but will shift to "a bezel-less design with screen sizes getting larger and curved edges in the original envelope."
Based on information gleaned from the trip by the analysts, and discussions with component suppliers, the 5.8-inch iPhone is said to feature OLED technology, with the 5-inch model having a LCD display.
Barclays does not believe that the discrete home button will be removed on the next version of the iPhone. Cryptically, the analysts say that they believe the screen's dimensions in the casing will "extend vertically as well as horizontally" overlapping the home button, but what that exactly implies isn't immediately clear.
Also not clear is exactly who Barclays met with. The reports have little or no new information, and appear to be little more than regurgitations of previous, hazy, reports out of China.
The report of 5- and 5.8-inch screens in any new "iPhone 8" aren't new, and have circulated since March. Reports from the supply chain differ regarding a 4.7-inch phone, with a report in October suggesting that there would be no 5-inch "iPhone 8," supporting the smaller size instead.
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17 Comments
Very simple. If iPhone 8 bezel becomes thin or bezel-less and screen covers most of front because the Home button is under screen than there is all kind of flexibility to sizes of iPhone 8.. And still overall size of iPhone don't increase. Hope, turns out true. love it.
My thought is you fill the entire front with the screen. Where the bottom bezel was, that's where the iOS dock sits. Add a fifth, permanent icon to the dock, which is the Home button. The Dock stays visible in an app unless the app specifically asks, in which case it can be called up with an up swipe from the bottom edge, when you get the control panel coming up, with the dock at its top.
Using the same dimensions as the 7 and 7+ with no bezel and a curved screen, the same size phone can fit both of these screen sizes, taking the entire width of the existing phones.
On the 5", it gives about 2/3 of an inch of non-screen space for the top and the bottom and the 5.8 would have over an inch. The 7 and 7+ both have roughly 1.3" each, give or take. So they can fit and still have some room for hardware outside of the screen.
I think they are going to fit these screens into the roughly the same sized phones we have now (maybe only different by a mm), because they wouldn't want to make them too different in size.
But what about the "curve?" Do they mean the glass? If so, curved surface, curved edges, both? Or do they mean the back case is curved?