iPhones Expected to Have OLED Displays Starting in 2018

[LonderJan]

OLED displays? They're 'awful,' says Apple's CEO Tim Cook

http://www.cnet.com/news/oled-displays-theyre-awful-says-apples-ceo/

 

[nia820]

About 6 years late to the party. I wish it would appear on next year's iphone. But I guess we can't get what we want.

 

[nia820]

Yes most people say the colours no matter what it's display don't look naturally - more artificially enhanced but if you look at the same thing with the human eye you noticed world's of difference. As far as I know samsung's oled panels are locked as far as saturation goes, as I don't believe you can even adjust it in any way to even come close to say lcd - it's basically all or nothing. It may be an inherent feature of the technology where you cannot tweak it. As my previous post indicated, anything with a white background on oled will drain power pretty quickly. The major advantage of oled is no backlight so the display can be thinner.

Actually you can adjust the saturation on flagship Samsung phones. There are 4 different screen modes on the s6 and note 5 where you can adjust the saturation to your liking. The basic mode gives about the same level of saturation as an iphone display. And the differences
Adaptive mode pushes the saturation to the limit.

 

[PBRsg]

So if you have no idea what the lifespan of the technology is your point is irrelevant right? The "life of the device" may be much longer for some than others. Since processors are getting so fast now, new iPhone's aren't going to become obsolete for a decade unless Apple forces iOS updates that slow down the old hardware. If an OLED screen failed after 3-4 years of regular use it'd be a nice form of planned obsolescence for Apple's bottom line.

I agree. The 6S will probably be usable for five years.

 

[PBRsg]

Hope this isn't true, or else that Apple finds a way to get around the shortcomings of these displays. Working at T-Mobile, I noticed there's burn-in on the Samsung Galaxy display phones because OLED displays basically act like plasmas.

Apple devices are expensive, so may people keep them for a long time. This is going to be even more true as the devices become more powerful and are useful for a longer time (the same thing that has happened to PCs). For this reason, Apple really needs to fix the problem of AMOLED burn in. Android devices tend to be more disposable than Apple devices.

 

[PBRsg]

I use iPhone 5, but get my iPhone 6s next month The Apple website says it is LED backlit.

Screens described as LED are generally LED backlit LCD screens (newer technology). The LCD screens used to be backlit by a different type of lights (older technology). The LED backlighting is better because it is cooler, uses less energy and can be turned on and off dynamically based on the image being displayed. The AMOLED that is being discussed here is a different technology; it is not an LCD.

 

[3rdiguy]

I'm waiting for the day when they drop the numbers and just call it iPhone.

I agree. They should just call it iPhone and the others would be known by their number and 'S'. May when the 10 year anniversary hits

 

[goobot]

So if you have no idea what the lifespan of the technology is your point is irrelevant right? The "life of the device" may be much longer for some than others. Since processors are getting so fast now, new iPhone's aren't going to become obsolete for a decade unless Apple forces iOS updates that slow down the old hardware. If an OLED screen failed after 3-4 years of regular use it'd be a nice form of planned obsolescence for Apple's bottom line.

The point is if it last the 99.9 percent anyway it doesn't matter. No device has an unlimited life time. And I'm sorry if someone is still using the original iPhone is 2018 they have no right to complain. Even computers people shouldn't complain about 10 years. These things aren't cars.

 

[gnasher729]

I believe it when I see it. Apple cannot just tell suppliers "we will be using OLED from 2018". They can tell suppliers "how many OLED displays could you supply in 2018 if we signed a deal now", then the suppliers give a number, then a deal is signed or not.

Oh great... In 2018 we'll have a new "displaygate" involving LG and Samsung with people going crazy because they ended up with the wrong brand of display.

And which one is the "wrong" one will change about three times.

 

[MacBH928]

I don't think even Tim Cook knows how the iphone will be in 2018.

I hope they concentrate on fixing iOS bugs, currently when I can't download updates from the app store for no apparent reason on my iPad but I can using my iphone(sometimes)

 

[Keane16]

Remember back in the day when the iPhone was cutting edge?

This doesn't help.

There's no phone that's completely cutting edge. I've owned and enjoyed pretty much every iPhone, but that doesn't mean they were cutting edge in all aspects:

OG iPhone didn't have apps or 3G, iPhone 3G still without Cut/Copy and Paste, iPhone 4S released without LTE, iPhone 5S in only 1 small size etc.

On the flipside there have been many cutting edge features too:

The whole UI/UX of the OG iPhone, the Retina screen on the the 4, the Touch ID sensor and the 64-bit A7 in the 5s, 3D Touch on the 6s etc.

 

[attila]

My iPhone 5 is awesome! I might wait until iPhone 8 before I upgrade!

Hopefully by then I'd get

A) Not a stupid-large screen like the iPhone 6
B) OLED display
C) Both

 

[WordsmithMR]

Wasn't there recently just an article on this site that predicted no OLED screens in the near future? Now we may get one in 2 years? That would be the next S model... That seems pretty near future to me.

 

[Tech198]

OLED displays? They're 'awful,' says Apple's CEO Tim Cook

http://www.cnet.com/news/oled-displays-theyre-awful-says-apples-ceo/

Tim always knows "best" for the company even if it's wrong for everyone else

It takes till 2018 to start ? I guess it's asking too much if we could have OLED's by the next iPhone then...

A plus for extending battery life since dark/black pixels don't need any energy, why bother illuminating something that's black if that's the natural color anyway when they are off ? (based on applications run etc) or screen.

Now the company may do this, it will take this long to change Tim's mind about OLED

 

[Aston441]

i'm thinking they will start calling it applePhone soon

That would be astonishing to me as iPhone is the most valuable brand name on earth.

 

[satchmo]

Focus on the software. The OS is getting stale. Changing the font doesn't count.

 

[Canada420]

I agree. The 6S will probably be usable for five years.

I'll try to keep my 6s for as long as I can...but I'll be wishing for an 8K oLED with auto-stereoscopic and Real3D/ AR capabilities.

 

[toke lahti]

Nice, my next ip will be oled then, hopefully they offer 5" model then. I upgrade every 3 years, we even have a monthly payment deal for that here in Finland. Upgrading every year makes me sick.

 

[toke lahti]

Samsung's AMOLED screens are a PWM nightmare. Their flicker pattern includes drops to zero brightness at most settings, and at many brightness levels it isn't even fast enough to mask the flicker..
LG's TV panels are PWM-free like Apple's current LED backlights (Apple is one of the few companies that insists on no-flicker LEDs BTW). It's hard to say what will happen at the mobile scale though; The PWM of Samsung's AMOLED is used to reduce power consumption.

At what frequency a led is considered "no-flicker"?

 

[shanson27]

Question: Will this help with the yellow tint?

Yellow-gate, can't wait till 2018

 

[doctor-don]

And a recent article stated that Apple did not plan on using OLED in its iPhones.

 

[geta]

So finally we'll have Samsung phones running iOS ?

 

[SirCheese]

Until after a year and the display begins turning a sickly yellow brown, as they all do. I've been hearing about how perfection in OLED is almost here, for ten straight years. It is BS.

As they all don't. I never had any such issues with my S3.

 

[D-Dave]

They said they are looking to fix those problems which is why it wouldn't be till 2018. Regardless, if the screen lasts 10 years instead of 20 it's pretty irrelevant in a phone. Do keep in mind I have no idea what the life times of each technology is. I'm simply saying if it last the life of the device it really doesn't matter.

Well, considering that lifetime in 2008 was 14,000 hours (OLED) [vs. 25,000 - 40,000 (LCD); each to half brightness] which would be 4.8 years with 8 houres usage per day...considering that back then there were prototypes with more then 62,000 hours...I think it's safe to assume that with an average expected lifetime of a smartphone of 2-5 years (and most likely less then 8 hours of active display per per day) I think it's rather unlikely taht one will run into lifetime problems with OLEDs even in 2015...

 

[uhaas]

Well, considering that lifetime in 2008 was 14,000 hours (OLED) [vs. 25,000 - 40,000 (LCD); each to half brightness] which would be 4.8 years with 8 houres usage per day...considering that back then there were prototypes with more then 62,000 hours...I think it's safe to assume that with an average expected lifetime of a smartphone of 2-5 years (and most likely less then 8 hours of active display per per day) I think it's rather unlikely taht one will run into lifetime problems with OLEDs even in 2015...

That may be true for the original owner, but I hand my devices down to family. I have the phones for 2 years, then trade up, and hand down. I've seen some over 5 years. Would this effectively kill that?

On the tablet side, I'm still amazingly happy with my iPad 3. It runs iOS 9 great, almost as great as my 6S+. It's a bit slower, doesn't have Touch ID or Siri Proactive, but it's a great device. I'm approaching 5 years on it. I'd go to a Pro, but I may wait until it has 3D Touch. I was disappointed it didn't come out with that.

I am considering a Apple Watch, but I'm also waiting for Gen 2, since I'm expecting more sensors and more independence from the phone. Also, I still think the battery life is too short for a watch.

So to say the life is 2-5 years, I'd say it's only true for the first owner. I buy Apple products because they're typically well made. Everyone has complaints, but overall the quality just seems higher. It does seem that some people get the latest every year, of everything: phone, tablet, watch(?). I just can't support that level of consumption. I could afford it, but I won't. I do believe the new carrier and Apple plans are starting to cater to that crowd.

I want the display, battery, and hardware to last beyond 5 years. It's one of the reasons I buy Apple. With carrier delivered devices, you're lucky to get beyond 1 OS level from where it was when you bought you device. Apple may not support all the latest features across all the devices, but I think they make a good balance in terms of performance.

So, if OLED will last, the display quality will be as good after 3-5 or more years of usage, they fix the color shifting to acceptable, then why not? That may still take another 2-3 years to realize that goal.