I believe LCD need the extra cable for the backlight whereas with OLED the pixels themselves light up and thus don't need backlight?
EDIT: From howstuffworks.com
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Making a case: MicroLED Display in iPhone 6S
- Thread starter SR71
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I believe LCD need the extra cable for the backlight whereas with OLED the pixels themselves light up and thus don't need backlight?
EDIT: From howstuffworks.com
Ok, that makes sense. But that still begs the question, which is more likely? Apple has unleashed an entirely different display tech on us, or they have somehow found a way to consolidate the backlight and the display into one cable?
I now believe OLED is quite likely. But one thing that confuses me is why the 6s display comparison video only shows 1 cable for the display, if the Apple Watch has 2 cables? The thinner cable in the video seems to be for Touch ID.
After looking at teardowns on iFixit, I don't think that's true. The iPhone 6/6+ has 3 cables as seen in the image below. The topmost wide cable is for the earpiece speaker, microphone and ambient light sensor. The vertical cable on the left is for Touch ID and is routed to the home button. The third and last can be partly seen beneath them, this is the single display cable.
The display cable can be seen here to the left on it's lonesome:
Full size images of teardown.
EDIT: Wait a minute.. The image from the iPhone 6 teardown has an image from a different angle that actually seems to have 2 cables:
Yeah, it's visible in the comparison video too. Doh!
So then the iPhone 6 does have two cables?
You might be right about that because the Apple Watch display also seems to have two cables.
Yup, that would go perfectly with what I posted above. Also something I just noticed between that pic of the Watch and the pic I posted earlier is that one of those connectors are the same as the one in the iPhone 6s display pic so either it's the Force Touch connector or the OLED display connector.
Is it just me or does that horizontal connector at the top look like it'd fit exactly with the same port on the Watch display pic (and possible even that little port on the top left of the metal section of the iPhone 6s display in the left pic)?
I think it's because one of the cables is the actual display and the other one is for the backlight which, on an LCD display, also needs to be powered. OLED displays create their own light so they don't need a backlight thus negating the need for a backlight and it's associated cable.
If you look closely there is actually two cables on the 6s display. The thing is they both run vertically and then separate. This gives the appearance of only being one cable when there's actually two cables. On the 6s it's presumed that one cable powers the OLED display and the other cable is for Force Touch. On the iPhone 6 it has two cables, but no Force Touch which if it also had Force Touch -- hypothetically speaking -- it'd need three cables. In the case of the 6s, however, it only has two cables. That's what is really leading me to believe it is an OLED display.
Speculating is fun.
It's even better because everyone in this thread is raising very good points as well.
I believe the cable separating to left in the video is Touch ID and not Force Touch, as the ID cable is seen routed and poking out on the bottom near the home button cut out. It's also very similar in shape to the 6/6+ ID cable:
I believe the cable separating to left in the video is Touch ID and not Force Touch, as the ID cable is seen routed and poking out on the bottom near the home button cut out. It's also very similar in shape to the 6/6+ ID cable:
Nope, if you look at this pic you can see the Touch ID cable is on the bottom of the display and connects directly to the home button in the iPhone 6, so that's separate from the display cables. So disregarding that, the 6s still only has two cables; one being for the display (OLED) and the other (presumably) for Force Touch.
Look at raised part of the metal shielding, it's connected at the bottom but routed to the top underneath it.Nope, if you look at this pic you can see the Touch ID cable is on the bottom of the display and connects directly to the home button in the iPhone 6, so that's separate from the display cables. So disregarding that, the 6s still only has two cables; one being for the display (OLED) and the other (presumably) for Force Touch.
Seems even more confirmed after seeing the new ZTE Axion Mini and Huawei Mate S phones that include "Forcetouch", both have AMOLED screens.
I see that, but what I'm saying is that doesn't really change anything about the 6s only having two cables up top nor does it reduce the likelihood of it having an OLED display.
If it was still using LCD like the iPhone 6 is it'd need three cables: one for the backlight, one for the LCD display, and one for Force Touch. Being an OLED display on the other hand would only require two cables: one for the display, one for Force Touch. Both the iPhone 6 and 6s will have the Touch ID cable routed to the bottom as usual. Nothing changes about that and I don't expect it to.
One thing we don't know is how Force Touch is implemented in those phones. Still very interesting that they both have AMOLED displays though.
I'm not arguing that it won't have OLED, infact I think it will, as well as Force Touch of course. The point I'm making is that 1 of the cables on top is for ID and not FT, as it resembles the iPhone 6 ID cable which makes its connection to the motherboard on top via the routed cable. I think the 6s in the comparison video is simply missing the FT cable on that particular unit.
EDIT: Sorry if the post was a mess for a while, mobile was giving me trouble :/
Last edited:
Ah that makes more sense, I thought you were just bringing up the Touch ID cable up as a third cable so I was a bit confused. One thing that I have a question about is that if one of the cables is for Touch ID, why does the iPhone 6 only have two cables? It needs a minimum of two cables for the display/backlight and would need a third cable for Touch ID, but it doesn't have a third cable.
It does have 3. 2 on top and 1 that comes from the bottom up to the top behind the panel itself.
Technically 4 if you include the earpiece/ camera cable...
Okay, so then the 6 has three cables: one for LCD, one for backlight, and one for Touch ID. And then the 6s also has three cables: one for OLED, one for Force Touch, and one for Touch ID. Looking at it this way further makes me think that we'll be seeing a display change.
It'll be interesting for sure. I keep waffling every day whether I think the 6S will have an LCD panel. There are so many factors: Yield, color accuracy, availability, incremental upgrade strategies, cable counts, animated wallpaper rumors, year old Jony Ive quotes... It's almost too much information to comfortably make a prediction!
Saw that today as well. Didn't take long for another "Force Touch" for hit the market. Lol
I have to stop reading this thread. You guys are getting my hopes up !
Last edited:
Exactly, that's what I'm confused about. Can it be an early display unit that's not completely assembled? Now there's that second video of the display attached to a motherboard that MacRumors reported on, I'll check that out and see if there's any difference in the cables.
I threw these together just to illustrate my thoughts on the ID cable:
It's very possible the Force Touch element is completely absent from this panel. It's already missing the home button, and possibly the front facing camera/ speaker. We won't know until another leak happens or iFixit rips the assembled device apart.Exactly, that's what I'm confused about. Can it be an early display unit that's not completely assembled? Now there's that second video of the display attached to a motherboard that MacRumors reported on, I'll check that out and see if there's any difference in the cables.
I threw these together just to illustrate my thoughts on the ID cable:
Yeah, I think so. The whole camera/speaker assembly seems absent in the iPhone 6s Logic Board and Display Booting to Gear Icon video. I took the screenshot below from that vid, it seems to only show 2 cables same as the other one. I belive that to be Touch ID (home button is present) and display, as the unit is at least showing an image. That would also imply OLED as the screen does indeed light up, however faintly.
The real shame about that video and the "gear" boot screen was that it used a grey background. If it had been a grey gear on a black background, the cat would have been out of the bag.Yeah, I think so. The whole camera/speaker assembly seems absent in the iPhone 6s Logic Board and Display Booting to Gear Icon video. I took the screenshot below from that vid, it seems to only show 2 cables same as the other one. I belive that to be Touch ID (home button is present) and display, as the unit is at least showing an image. That would also imply OLED as the screen does indeed light up, however faintly.
Well, I think it is? If being an LCD, the background in this display should have been blackish/brownish without the backlight. In my opinion there's too much contrast between the gear and background, and with no reflection or glare present.
Last edited: