The screen size of Apple’s iPhone looks poised to grow for the first time in the device’s history, and several Asian manufacturers may have a shot at making displays for the anticipated iPhone 5. Sharp, Sony, Toshiba Mobile Display, LG Display and Japan Display have all been named as contenders for this business, and it is likely that more than one of them will end up producing the iPhone 5 displays. The screens are expected measure 4-inches diagonally, a 14% increase from the current 3.5-inch iPhone screen size.
Reports of Apple’s decision to increase the iPhone’s screen size come on the heels of rival Samsung’s launch of the Galaxy S III, which sports a 4.8-inch screen. After spending countless hours and dollars suing Samsung for allegedly copying its designs, Apple now appears to be a step behind the Korean juggernaut in this aspect of smartphone design.
The display for Samsung’s first Galaxy S was the company’s proprietary Super AMOLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode). While other phones have AMOLED displays, Samsung is the first to put touch sensors onto the display itself, instead of in a separate layer of the screen. This makes for a thinner screen, something which Apple is also said to be aiming for by using in-cell technology for the iPhone 5. A number of suppliers may be chosen to produce the displays, since right now manufacturers cannot make the panels as quickly as they make the displays for the current iPhones.
The iPhone 4 uses an in-plane-switching LCD, also called a Retina Display in Apple parlance, as opposed to an AMOLED display. Earlier this spring a South Korea business newspaper reported that the next iPhone will also have a Retina Display.
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