Light sensor. I'm thinking if the sensor is receiving low amount of light, it message the phone telling it that it's the back side.
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Larger 5.8-Inch OLED iPhone Screen Could Allow for Wraparound Display [Updated]
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I don't care about the curved screen around the edges at all, but I do care about there not being a bezel. If this is how they can make it happen I'm all for it.
So many people shooting down the implementation of the Curved screen on the S7 Edge when all reviews are saying it works really well. You have no bezel on the sides which increases usable screen size in a smaller form factor. Perhaps you should actually try the phone before saying its crap. Also if Apple released the exact same phone first people on here would be praising it to the hilt.
Both the fingerprint scanner and slide-to-unlock share an interesting background history.
Back around the turn of the century, when PDAs were really taking off with business people, users wanted something easier and more secure than passcodes. So two methods became popular:
1) Pattern gesture unlock - the user would register a specific finger touch pattern as their unlock code. This actually begat all sorts of companies creating such tools, until it was noticed that the plastic screens would often retain the markings of the unlock pattern.
So this method virtually disappeared as a _security_ mechanism. NeoNode (and later Apple) brought it back in a simpler form as only a convenience gesture, not one meant for security.
2) Fingerprint scanners - these were hot until it was shown how easily fingers could be faked, oddly enough by that German computer club (yes, the same group that did it 15 years later with the iPhone).
So scanners went out of favor just after the turn of the century for security purposes, only to be brought back later more for convenience than _real_ security, as fake fingers still work.
You're right that Apple didn't implement open NFC support like everyone else. Otherwise we'd have some cool NFC transfer apps, along with perhaps more payment methods. But of course, Apple is too greedy to allow competition like that.
Instead, they sold space on their device to the banks and credit card entities, who were the ones (not Apple!) to develop the applets provisioned in the Secure Element to implement their specific extensions of the standard EMV contactless methods with tokenization.
Apple did do a bit of work creating a registration server (which actually shouldn't be necessary, but it gives them knowledge of what cards have been registered), and of course their implementation of Apple Pay via apps.
As far as contactless goes, though, the only real thing Apple invented with Apple Pay was their idea that a device maker should get continuous royalties simply in return for allowing a bank to let Apple customers register its cards.
Apple publicly dissed larger screens, with Tim Cook saying in an earnings call that 4" was the right size. The reason they switched was because they were losing sales to other makers.
Apple is too greedy ? Lol ... I was under the impression you were old enough to not believe a multinational company could be "greedy" ...
Apple just think (and I DO AGREE) that NFC as a single feature is useless ...
They just used it for something actually usable, like Apple Pay.
I wont even comment this lines, because I found it just ridiculous...
Apple Pay is A GREAT implementation.
I'm just waiting for this service to be more available worldwide.
Tim Cook said that because at the time Apple was selling a 4" iPhone. He already know they were going to release a bigger iPhone sooner than later.
Or are you so naive to think the next iPhone is developed a few months before its launch ?
Apple losing sales ? reality check: so far iPhone sales WENT ONLY UP until last quarter. Maybe next quarter we are going to see the first decline ever (and totally unrelated to screen dimensions).
The iPhone is so thin that having a wraparound display on the sides would be kind of pointless. Plus most people put there phones is cases. I don't really see it happening but you never know. Unless Apple made the phone thicker, which would be a good thing.
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Just wanted to say awesome post. And don't lose too much time replying to Apple extreme fans, they'll defend the indefensible, it's a lost cause.
It's design. Design is not a gimmick.
Curved edges feel nice. No bezels is nice. Solution: curved display.
ApplePay implements NFC after years of BLE vapor ware and the implementation is crippled - NFC is not just about POST. Apple changed to larger screens when it was obvious that people were buying them - and again, every one would just make fun of the giant Android phones. The huge success of the iphone 6/6s proved that it was just play hate.
Again, Nothing to do with who is first or last - the best tech should be implemented. I'm pointing out that as a community bashing one thing because the "competition" is using it and then accept it with open arms once Apple uses it - is crazy.
i don't do much android phone bashing, but a wrap around screen with functionality down the sides is one of the most pointless features i've ever seen. really doubt apple will incorporate this, but more so, i just hope they don't. if it's just a nice aesthetic curve, i'm sure they'd do something nice with it, but please don't add what kinda strikes me as 'ad-space' to the sides.
Wow, talk about ripping others off Apple! Perhaps one day you'll learn to turn off that photocopier of your's? And come up with your own ideas.....
has anyone considered the additional screen size coming from the also-anticipated removal of the physical home button rather than wrap-around screens? just using a ruler here on my 6S Plus, if you stretch the screen near to the bottom of the phone guess how big it is? lol, yep... 5.8"
food for thought...
food for thought...
A DigiTimes rumor shared this morning pointed towards the possibility of a future 5.8-inch display in an iPhone, a significant size increase over the existing 5.5-inch display of the iPhone 6s Plus.
Rumor sites have expressed some skepticism over the idea of a 5.8-inch iPhone, but when looking at Apple's rumored work on flexible OLED displays and patents the company has filed, there is at least one plausible explanation for a 5.8-inch display -- it wraps around the sides of the device.
DisplayMate's Ray Soneira speculates that Apple could be planning to implement "folded edge side screens" on a future iOS device using a flexible OLED display. Such a display would fully eliminate side bezels on the iPhone and would also perhaps implement special buttons or gestures that could be used to control functions on the iPhone using the sides of the device.
Samsung offers phones that have a distinctly curved display with a side bar and its most recent device in that vein is the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The S7 Edge curves downward at one side, providing users with a toolbar of apps. Soneira believes Apple's implementation wouldn't mimic Samsung's, perhaps using square sides as outlined in a 2011 patent.
The patent outlines an edge display that's an extension of the main front display, offering virtual buttons, virtual switches, or informational displays that supplement the main display. It consists of a touch-sensitive layer underneath a flexible display layer and in the patent, virtual side buttons have purposes like adjusting volume, or snapping a photo.
In a second patent, Apple has outlined multiple possible shapes for an iPhone that would have a wraparound display, ranging from squared off to cylindrical, suggesting there are many possible directions Apple could go in should it decide to implement wraparound features like these.
Multiple rumors have suggested Apple is working on flexible OLED displays for future devices, with the goal of debuting the first OLED iPhones in 2017 or 2018. In addition to enabling features like dramatic curves, flexible OLED display panels have other benefits, as outlined by Soneira in a recent display shootout covering the Galaxy S7. OLED displays are thinner, lighter, offer better viewing angles, and have the potential to be used with a much smaller bezel.
OLED displays also offer better color accuracy, image contrast, and screen uniformity, and Soneira believes in the near future, OLED products will be foldable and flexible for applications described in Apple's patents.Apple's patents are not typically a useful way to predict the features we'll see in future products, but they do offer a look at the technologies and ideas Apple is exploring. Combined with the rumors that Apple has an intense interest in developing a flexible OLED display for future iOS devices, we can speculate that Apple is at least considering wraparound displays as a future iPhone feature, and today's 5.8-inch iPhone rumor is perhaps one more clue hinting at Apple's OLED plans.
According to Ray Soneira, side screens would be an ideal way for Apple to continue to iterate on future iPhones. "If Apple wants to be leading display innovation with a new OLED iPhone the side screens would really be the best way to do so," he said.
Update: When applied to the height of an existing 5.5-inch iPhone, a 5.8-inch display like the one Apple is rumored to be working on would leave an extra 7.1mm of display on each side that could be used to wrap around the edges of the device. This would extend the display across the front and sides of the iPhone, perhaps enabling side-based gestures and buttons.
We don't know what shape an iPhone with side bars could take, but the rumored 5.8-inch size of the display is about right to add side panels to current-generation iPhones.
Article Link: Larger 5.8-Inch OLED iPhone Screen Could Allow for Wraparound Display [Updated]
No it's not, because when Apple implement things, they usually do that in a different way that "incidentally" is better.
This doesn't apply on design changes like a bigger display, of course (it was just time to offer a different product), but apply on most of the other novelties like Apple Pay, TouchID, force touch, dual flash and so on...
I'm confused... You clearly are speaking about Samsung, aren't you ?
Excuse me? Many Apple users - for years, were hungry for larger screens - THAT'S why (a big reason) the 6/6S sold well. And larger screens isn't something that Apple "did better." They just did it.
Your argument fails to also recognize that there are other mitigating factors besides "doing it right" that affects Apple's rollouts. Like cost of their supply chain/margins, etc.
I find it interesting that Apple gets kudos usually for waiting and getting it right - but other OEMs get put upon for copying when they wait to roll something out after Apple. Amusing how that works...
Exactly how did Apple do big screens better?.Android manufacturers are able to cram a bigger screen than the 6S Plus in a much smaller size and bezels
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You seem to have problems understanding my english: it must be awful...
No it's not, because when Apple implement things, they usually do that in a different way that "incidentally" is better.
This doesn't apply on design changes like a bigger display, of course (it was just time to offer a different product), but apply on most of the other novelties like Apple Pay, TouchID, force touch, dual flash and so on...
To me this is easy to understand, even if english isn't my first language....
My arguments are facts ...
Apple gets kudos for doing things better.
Usually others, like Samsung, just hear rumors about Apple and they rush to launch something first. And most of the times their realization is half baked at best, but they are happy because they can present a longer specs list.
Fortunately Apple is different.
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Samsung S6 have a screen to body ratio of 70%, while the iPhone 6S has a ratio of 66%. They both use a physical home button. There is a little difference between them...
Even the LG G5, WITHOUT a physical button, has a ratio of 70%...
HTC One M8 is 66%, like the iPhone.
Sony Z5 is 69%.
People keep speaking about an issue that doesn't exist since iPhone 5S.
No - they are mostly opinions. There's a difference.
I understand that, but nothing is a fact yet. Therefore I think you can't bring back something that have not gone.