Apple refining OLED screen penetration tech for removal of iPhone notch
The infamous notch at the top of the current generation of iPhones could be eliminated in a future version, with Apple looking into including openings in the display itself that cameras, speakers, and other sensors could be positioned behind, providing them with access to the outside world while minimizing their appearance.
Since the introduction of the notch in the iPhone X, device producers have attempted to come up with ways to maximize the screen size while managing the need to include certain types of components. Aside from cameras, as with the TrueDepth array, manufacturers also have to find ways to include other elements, such as physical holes to allow microphones and speakers to function.
It's these physical openings that make a full-screen smartphone hard to produce. Sure, areas of a display panel could be excluded to make a porthole for a camera to see through while maintaining the smooth appearance of the front glass, but for holes there isn't any way to easily hide their existence.
In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday titled "Electronic devices having displays with openings", Apple proposes the inclusion of openings in the display that fit between pixels to minimize their impact. Components are then mounted within the device's casing behind the display to align with the gaps.
How holes in the OLED panel could allow acoustic components like speakers and microphones to function
Apple claims it could use OLED technology, which would allow for the display to function with cutouts far easier than LCD due to the pixels being self-illuminating, so eliminating the need to add a backlight to the display stack. The display would also include the use of thin-film transistor circuitry, and a layer of sealant.
Depending on the component behind the display, there may be the use of a color filter material to block specific wavelengths of light, or to help transmit certain types. This could be useful for elements like the TrueDepth camera array, which relies on infrared to project dots onto the user's face.
It is also suggested the technique could be used to enclose an interior cavity featuring a light sensor and an overlapping display. The display would include a "light-transmitting window" interposed between pairs of pixels, with light reflected to the light sensor. This would in theory enable the creation of Touch ID that works through a display.
An example of a series of holes made in a display that could be used for Touch ID purposes
Apple files numerous patent applications on a weekly basis, but while the existence of a filing may indicate areas of interest for the company, it is far from guaranteed that it will appear in a future product or service.
The idea of hiding components behind the screen certainly isn't new to Apple.
One patent application from August suggested the use of "light transmitting windows," namely areas where components are placed behind an OLED panel in such a way that areas of the display do not self illuminate when the component is in use, enabling a camera to see the world or the user, for example. The sections could also feasibly be produced to be more transparent than other areas, keeping the display as optimal as possible for normal use.
In May, a patent application proposed the use of holes in a display and light reflections to a light sensor as part of a Touch ID system, again hiding it behind the display.
Since the introduction of the notch in the iPhone X, device producers have attempted to come up with ways to maximize the screen size while managing the need to include certain types of components. Aside from cameras, as with the TrueDepth array, manufacturers also have to find ways to include other elements, such as physical holes to allow microphones and speakers to function.
It's these physical openings that make a full-screen smartphone hard to produce. Sure, areas of a display panel could be excluded to make a porthole for a camera to see through while maintaining the smooth appearance of the front glass, but for holes there isn't any way to easily hide their existence.
In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday titled "Electronic devices having displays with openings", Apple proposes the inclusion of openings in the display that fit between pixels to minimize their impact. Components are then mounted within the device's casing behind the display to align with the gaps.
How holes in the OLED panel could allow acoustic components like speakers and microphones to function
Apple claims it could use OLED technology, which would allow for the display to function with cutouts far easier than LCD due to the pixels being self-illuminating, so eliminating the need to add a backlight to the display stack. The display would also include the use of thin-film transistor circuitry, and a layer of sealant.
Depending on the component behind the display, there may be the use of a color filter material to block specific wavelengths of light, or to help transmit certain types. This could be useful for elements like the TrueDepth camera array, which relies on infrared to project dots onto the user's face.
It is also suggested the technique could be used to enclose an interior cavity featuring a light sensor and an overlapping display. The display would include a "light-transmitting window" interposed between pairs of pixels, with light reflected to the light sensor. This would in theory enable the creation of Touch ID that works through a display.
An example of a series of holes made in a display that could be used for Touch ID purposes
Apple files numerous patent applications on a weekly basis, but while the existence of a filing may indicate areas of interest for the company, it is far from guaranteed that it will appear in a future product or service.
The idea of hiding components behind the screen certainly isn't new to Apple.
One patent application from August suggested the use of "light transmitting windows," namely areas where components are placed behind an OLED panel in such a way that areas of the display do not self illuminate when the component is in use, enabling a camera to see the world or the user, for example. The sections could also feasibly be produced to be more transparent than other areas, keeping the display as optimal as possible for normal use.
In May, a patent application proposed the use of holes in a display and light reflections to a light sensor as part of a Touch ID system, again hiding it behind the display.
Comments
The notch keeps them busy and out of trouble.
#KeepTheNotch!
You can pretend that it doesn't bother you as a user, but thats just delusion. It would be better if it were not there, and it will be better when it is not there anymore. Unfortunately we'll still be dealing with it for a decade as these few generations of devices with notches fade into obsolescence.
Real question what kind of software you can run on it. If Apple has this problem solved, then they would probably made ARM Macbook already.
Do not worry. Jack and high prices will be here always in case all other disappear. :-) We have saying something like "it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog" You say probably: The one who wants to blame someone can always find an error in himLOL You're delusional to claim that usable space is less than having a chin and forehead. Having the Status Bar items in the "ears' clearly allows for more relevant content to be displayed in the given footprint of the device. It's because of the new design that an extra row of icons were possible without having to increase the height of the device,
You don't need a chin and forehead. The iPad Pro accomplishes the design just fine with a modest bezel. iPhone could have a modest bezel as well, but they went with this disaster instead. It hasn't become normal by any means. It is still as bad as it was day 1, and Apple is still literally trying to break laws of physics and optics just to get rid of it.
Except when, apparently, you do engage.
Further, I agree with Soli that in most use cases the notch increases useable content area. Without it, the content area would be further reduced by the additional space taken up by the increased height of the status bar.
The notch is a temporary tradeoff, given the constraints of current technology and the desire to maximize useable screen real estate.
Give it a few years, and it will be gone, and you'll be forced to find something else all "developers" hate.
And you also may not have noticed, but it's not just Apple that's trying to break laws of physics and optics just to get rid of it. Other phones have notches, cutouts, holes, and are otherwise still trying to figure out how to make sensors that work through the screen.