20th Anniversary iPhone Tipped to Use Brighter, Thinner OLED Panel

[MacRumors]

Apple for its 20th anniversary iPhone will adopt a Samsung-made OLED technology called COE (Color Filter on Encapsulation) to make the display brighter and thinner than previous panels, reports ETNews.

In a traditional OLED panel, a polarizing film sits above the display to cut reflections and improve contrast. The drawback is that this film also absorbs some of the OLED's own light, reducing brightness and efficiency. With COE, Apple would remove the polarizer entirely and instead apply the color filter directly onto the OLED's protective encapsulation layer.

The result would be a thinner display stack that lets more light through, delivering higher brightness without requiring more power. Removing layers would also mean less thickness overall, potentially contributing to a slimmer iPhone design.

However, Apple's challenge is that without a polarizer, reflections and glare control become trickier, so Apple will likely have to rely on advanced coatings and pixel-level materials to maintain outdoor readability.

If Apple brings COE to its 2027 iPhone – the 10th anniversary of the iPhone X – it would be the first use of the technology in a non-foldable device from the company. Meanwhile, Samsung is expected to expand COE to its Galaxy S26 Ultra in 2026. Samsung first rolled out COE in the Galaxy Z Fold 3 back in 2021 to contribute to the device's thinness.

Apple is reportedly considering a radical redesign for the 20th anniversary iPhone that could feature a completely bezel-less display that curves around all four edges of the device. The model is expected to be preceded in 2026 by Apple's first foldable iPhone.

Article Link: 20th Anniversary iPhone Tipped to Use Brighter, Thinner OLED Panel

 

[winxmac]

2017 - iPhone X
2027 - iPhone XX
2037 - iPhone XXX
2047 - iPhone XL
2057 - iPhone L
2067 - iPhone LX

 

[TechRunner]

I'm no engineer, but wouldn't a thinner display stack make the display more fragile?

 

[Velin]

Have iPhone 15. I'm holding out for this model to upgrade.

 

[JohnLuke]

Hoping for a design similar to iPhone X. I miss that shiny glass sandwich!

 

[tyranne201]

I will wait for that. The ideia of a foldable phone just doesn’t work for me. Too bulky.

Don’t wanna a $2000 phone with compromises in the camera.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

If it isn't at least as anti reflective as a s24 I'll be pissed lol. iPhone 17 is already a joke at handling reflections

The s24 and s25 are unbelievably good at that ,

 

[Steves Padawan]

Pair of iPhone Air but foldable, better cameras, better display and no bezels
2000 USD

 

[BorisDG]

Fingers crossed for M15 OLED materials.

 

[Boeingfan]

I don't get the appeal of having display around the edges. How often will you sit and look at the image on the edge? Will photo's wrap around so you'll need to turn your phone around from every angle to see the entire picture? Also, didn't Samsung do this on the S6?

 

[ralph_sws]

you can even write that it will be transparent, why limit yourself? 🤭

 

[bluecoast]

You can see where they are going:

Something like the Air, but using the next generation of Ceramic Shield to create the entire chassis, a little like the chassis of the iPhone pro 17

 

[Populus]

Not a fan of a screen that curves on the edges…

Aside from that, let’s hope they use this new OLED technology on the regular iPhone 18, and that they improve even further the “reduce PWM” feature so that they manage to eliminate almost all of the pulses or flickers. The current iPhone 17 seems to do a good job but still flickers a bit.

Just having that option on the iPhone 17 signals that Apple is aware of the issue, and gives me hope that Apple is taking ocular health into account and we may see improvements in that direction. Let’s cross our fingers.

 

[maczaddy]

I don't get the appeal of having display around the edges. How often will you sit and look at the image on the edge? Will photo's wrap around so you'll need to turn your phone around from every angle to see the entire picture? Also, didn't Samsung do this on the S6?

I always hated Samsungs version of the curved edges you could see the bends and gave the feeling of a trapezoid. They were supposed to be for additional controls I think.

 

[BelgianChoklit]

I’m hoping for nothing more than the iPhone 11 Pro design with rounded edges and that same style of camera island but without a dynamic island and in aluminium or titanium. Nothing foldable!

 

[neuropsychguy]

I don't get the appeal of having display around the edges. How often will you sit and look at the image on the edge? Will photo's wrap around so you'll need to turn your phone around from every angle to see the entire picture? Also, didn't Samsung do this on the S6?

If it's done it's likely an area for notifications and visual indicators of haptic 'buttons' or things like that. One of the other issues is knowing how to design cases if there are no bezels and some information on the sides of the phone.

 

[hortod1]

But will it come in orange? Priorities

 

[ItsASpider]

Why are we still using that dumb all-screen phone as a render of the 2027 iPhone? Does anyone really expect that will happen? They can't even get the camera pill to the size the competition has used for years now. What makes people think this is going to happen in 2 year? Aside from how fragile that would be, why would anyone want that?

 

[JosephAW]

The anniversary iPhone will always be more expensive so most likely it will be the folding iPhone. 📱 💰

 

[JosephAW]

2017 - iPhone X
2027 - iPhone XX
2037 - iPhone XXX
2047 - iPhone XL
2057 - iPhone L
2067 - iPhone LX

All those Roman numerals make me think of football. 🏈

 

[MrMacintoshIII]

Gosh I really love that all screen render. It looks delicious… 🤤

 

[theluggage]

Apple is reportedly considering a radical redesign for the 20th anniversary iPhone that could feature a completely bezel-less display that curves around all four edges of the device.

Why?
Just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should.

If it's done it's likely an area for notifications and visual indicators of haptic 'buttons' or things like that.

So... you have to turn the phone edge-on to see what the controls do, or whether you have notifications?
...which you have to do because the physical buttons get replaced with touch controls?

Honestly, it's already bad enough with current thin-bezel phones that you can't pick up or hand to someone without triggering some new gesture feature added in the latest software update and then spending the next 5 minutes trying to work out how to turn it off.

 

[Oohara]

I just want a replica of the original iPhone with an OLED display and up to date internals. Announced at a LIVE event, with the words "But there is one more thing." C'mon Tim, let us have some fun!!

 

[Annihilator_47]

I was expecting this display for iPhone 18 pro / pro max.

For iPhone 20th Anniversary edition I was expecting Tandem OLED display.

For 2028-2030 iPhone I was expecting QDEL display (Quantum Dot Electroluminescent Display) which improves lifespan and will not have burn in like OLED display.

Still year behind but it is good at least they are bring some changes.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

Why are we still using that dumb all-screen phone as a render of the 2027 iPhone? Does anyone really expect that will happen? They can't even get the camera pill to the size the competition has used for years now. What makes people think this is going to happen in 2 year? Aside from how fragile that would be, why would anyone want that?

I agree with you on everything other than the “Camera Pill” comment. There is a very good reason why the Dynamic Island is there. Android users likely do not believe it, but FaceID is far more secure than any authentication available for Android and that is why the “Camera Pill”, as you call it, is there. They will match the lackluster competition once the technology allows FaceID to be small enough. Android’s face authentication is similar in marketing only.