Apple is asking iPhone suppliers for screens without any bezel

There is a phrase in this article that understates what I'd think is a much bigger issue:

mayfly said:

There is a phrase in this article that understates what I'd think is a much bigger issue:

"increased vulnerability to external shocks"

With no metal bezel surrounding a glass lens, seems like it would be way more likely to break due to accidents that current phones survive intact. They're going to have to explore a radically different glass technology to prevent that. Or they could just use current glass tech, and make more money on repairs, I suppose.

Hint... the "lens" is not made of glass.

commentzilla said:

mayfly said:

There is a phrase in this article that understates what I'd think is a much bigger issue:

"increased vulnerability to external shocks"

With no metal bezel surrounding a glass lens, seems like it would be way more likely to break due to accidents that current phones survive intact. They're going to have to explore a radically different glass technology to prevent that. Or they could just use current glass tech, and make more money on repairs, I suppose.

Hint... the "lens" is not made of glass.

I’ve heard the glass covering the display on the iPhone referred to as ‘lens’ in the past.  It might be ‘engineer-speak’ or a British term.  In the US, we think a lens is on the camera or in glasses, a microscope or telescope. A lens is glass ( or clear plastic) we look through that transmits light and bends the light to form an image that is enlarged, reduced or otherwise distorted. Yet we have sunglasses the have no distortion, just a filtering of light. So, yes, I can see the display glass referred to as a lens. 

Where we in the US refer to a ‘hood’ on the front of a car, the Brits say ‘bonnet’. What we call a ‘windshield’ is referred to as a ‘windscreen’ by Brits.  I can see calling the face of the iPhone a lens that we look through to see the image displayed on or under film layers. 

Gorilla glass that Apple uses has had many iterations over the years.  It approaches the hardness and scratch resistance of some metals.  Tougher than nails. 

I’d think that’s the protection that does the job, unless the display film comes all the way to the edge of the glass—and can be harmed by just the edge being hit. 

My concern could be reliable touch rejection from gripping the iPhone with fingers encroaching on the edges of the display. I’d take a guess that Apple thought of that a long time ago and it won’t be a problem. I guess I’m not really concerned about that after all.

mayfly said:

There is a phrase in this article that understates what I'd think is a much bigger issue:

"increased vulnerability to external shocks"

With no metal bezel surrounding a glass lens, seems like it would be way more likely to break due to accidents that current phones survive intact. They're going to have to explore a radically different glass technology to prevent that. Or they could just use current glass tech, and make more money on repairs, I suppose.

The OLED display is said to no bezels. It doesn't mean the phone won't have any bezels.

The bezels have a 100% winning average every time we have read this or that devices won't have any bezels. Every time the word is used, the device ends up having bezels. This article is just saying the OLED display component won't have any bezels. There's going be a "ceramic shield" cover laminated on top of it, possibly some light filter or touchscreen layer component, and then it needs mounting clips on the side, probably.

jellybelly said:

commentzilla said:

mayfly said:

There is a phrase in this article that understates what I'd think is a much bigger issue:

"increased vulnerability to external shocks"

With no metal bezel surrounding a glass lens, seems like it would be way more likely to break due to accidents that current phones survive intact. They're going to have to explore a radically different glass technology to prevent that. Or they could just use current glass tech, and make more money on repairs, I suppose.

Hint... the "lens" is not made of glass.

I’ve heard the glass covering the display on the iPhone referred to as ‘lens’ in the past.  It might be ‘engineer-speak’ or a British term.  In the US, we think a lens is on the camera or in glasses, a microscope or telescope. A lens is glass ( or clear plastic) we look through that transmits light and bends the light to form an image that is enlarged, reduced or otherwise distorted. Yet we have sunglasses the have no distortion, just a filtering of light. So, yes, I can see the display glass referred to as a lens. 

Where we in the US refer to a ‘hood’ on the front of a car, the Brits say ‘bonnet’. What we call a ‘windshield’ is referred to as a ‘windscreen’ by Brits.  I can see calling the face of the iPhone a lens that we look through to see the image displayed on or under film layers. 

Gorilla glass that Apple uses has had many iterations over the years.  It approaches the hardness and scratch resistance of some metals.  Tougher than nails. 

I’d think that’s the protection that does the job, unless the display film comes all the way to the edge of the glass—and can be harmed by just the edge being hit. 

My concern could be reliable touch rejection from gripping the iPhone with fingers encroaching on the edges of the display. I’d take a guess that Apple thought of that a long time ago and it won’t be a problem. I guess I’m not really concerned about that after all.

I've been working with Brits daily for 15-years and I have never heard it referred to as a lens.