Apple is waiting on Samsung to perfect a next-generation OLED display technology that wraps almost vertically around a phone and essentially makes the sides themselves part of the screen, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to the Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital, the technology is internally described by Samsung as a "full-surround, full-screen display." In the design – unlike a curved so-called "waterfall screen" – the main display remains completely flat, while the OLED panel bends sharply downward at close to a 90-degree angle on all four edges and corners.
The idea is that those folded display sections would effectively become the sides of the device and replace the typical metal or plastic frame. Meanwhile, the display wiring and other components usually hidden behind the bezels could also be moved around the edges.
The result – in theory – would be an iPhone that looks almost entirely bezel-free when viewed from the front, with the physical black border around the display reduced virtually to nothing. The technology could also reportedly facilitate an iPhone model without conventional mechanical buttons.
According to the leaker, Apple has been waiting for Samsung to finalize the technology, but there are still challenges to overcome. These are said to include optical distortion and color shifts around the corners, maintaining the OLED's protective encapsulation through extreme bends, and finding suitable locations for antennas when all sides are covered by the display.
The technology is quite different from the less-extreme "four-sided quad-curved display" that is rumored for Apple's 20th-anniversary iPhone expected in 2027. Indeed, the leaker suggests that the commemorative iPhone 20 model could be an intermediate step toward this more ambitious design. We'll see.
