Since Apple went with full bezel-less display last year with the iPhone X, every other manufacturer has been trying to imitate the design, including the notch. While most of them have successfully copied the notch (and some have even eradicated it completely), getting rid of the chin has been a colossal task, especially for those offerings that come with an LCD display (consider the ASUS Zenfone 5z for example). Apple though has a solution to this problem for its rumoured 6.1-inch LCD iPhone.
According to DigiTimes, Apple is teaming up with Japan’s Nichia to make the chin on bezel-less LCD displays a thing of the past. They have developed a new kind of LED backlighting technology that will require smaller connectors, translating into narrower chins at the bottom of the iPhone. Known as the 0.3t LED chip, it can help Apple shave unwanted bezel at the bottom. With smaller connectors, the bezels can be reduced to 2.0mm-2.5mm, making them comparable with the edges of a bezel-less OLED display.
For the 6.1-inch LCD iPhone, Apple wanted to keep the prices low without compromising on the new design language. Since LCD panels are cheaper to manufacture, the decision to with them was obvious. However, convention LCD panels require 0.4t LED chips for backlighting, which eventually result in thicker chins of up to 4.0mm-4.5mm. Since Apple would want to maintain consistency across the bezel-less iPhones, they chose to work on the LED chips, aiming for a more compact form.
While the advantage of a 0.3t chip is great, it has one small issue. The packaging of 0.3t LED chips for backlighting of LCD panels is more difficult in accuracy and stability than that of 0.4t LED chips, said sources close to DigiTimes. However, Nichia has been on trial production for the 0.3t chips early this year and they wish to overcome the issues by the time Apple makes the new iPhone available for sale in September.
In order to generate competition, DigiTimes reports that several display chip manufacturers are looking to ramp up production of 0.3t LED chips in order to fulfil the demands from the rival Chinese vendors once they are ready with their commercially finished products.
The 6.1-inch LCD iPhone is rumoured to lose out on some signature iPhone features such as 3D Touch, dual rear camera setup and TouchID. The new model will bring the FaceID technology to masses along with the new fullscreen design. Additionally, fast charging is rumoured to make its way to the budget iPhone. The 6.1-inch LCD iPhone is supposed to be the successor to the iPhone 8 and will be priced accordingly.
Disclaimer: The above report is completely based on online rumours and leaks from the respective sources. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Deccan Chronicle and/or other staff and contributors to this site.
