“KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently issued a report agreeing with recent rumors that Apple will introduce in-cell touch panels on its next iPhone,” Josh Ong reports for AppleInsider.
“According to his research, the new display design, which would embed the touch sensor within the TFT LCD, could result in thickness savings of as much as 0.44mm by removing the separate touch sensor layer and one layer of adhesive,” Ong reports. “Apple’s current-generation iPhone 4S is 9.3mm thick. Kuo believes the company is aiming to break the 8mm mark with its next handset in order to stay competitive with thin designs from rival smartphone makers.”
Ong reports, “He calculated that a thinner battery and the rumored switch to a metal back instead of glass could result in further reduced thickness of 0.96mm. As such, Kuo predicts that the depth of the next iPhone will measure 7.90mm.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Piper Jaffray’s Munster: Apple’s next-gen iPhone to be ‘Mother of all Upgrades’ (with video) – April 20, 2012
Apple next-gen iPhone likely to adopt in-cell touch screens by Sharp and Toshiba, say sources – April 20, 2012
“… savings of as much as 0.44mm”
That’s not going to be noticed by most users. Although I concede that every little helps when trying to make slimline products, I feel that the real advantage for Apple might be more to do with things like easier assembly, more reliability or better aesthetics.
Also, the battery is not going to be thinner, and the back is not going to be done from metal. Jobs wanted that from very beginning, but this is not really possible for 3G/4G networks — for the phone of such size only half of the back could be done of metal. For 2G network, plastic part could only be 25%, like in the original iPhone from 2007, but not for 3G/4G.
Personally I’d take having it the same size, or at least not as absolutely thin as they can make it, in exchange for a longer battery. The 4s battery is pretty good, but I go out for the day and use gps, take photos, check maps and so on and the battery does drain.
When the average owner of an iPhone insists on covering up the beauty of Apple’s designs with a stupid bulky case and an even more stupid ‘screen protector’, this removes any improvement in making it thinner.
In years past, couches were always ‘protected’ with plastic or some ugly old blanket. Have we gone back?
I put a case on for grip. The 4S is really slippery. When I set it on a smooth surface that was sloped even a little the phone would slide toward the edge all by itself.
I have the free Belkin case on my 4, and you only have to look at the scratches and gouges all over it to see how well it’s protected the back and sides, with no significant increase in bulk, and I also have an effectively invisible screen protector, because my 3G got scratched by stuff in my pockets, and the first protector on my 4 was really knocked about, a fresh one a month ago made the phone look brand new. I’d rather have a minimal case and screen guard that keeps the phone pristine, it will command maximum price if I sell it when I upgrade.
So I guess that you can resell it at a great price so someone else can put a case on it and keep it pristine until they junk it.
Just like your couch that you can resell after 20 years of plastic and old blankets.
Apple will eventually get down to the credit card-sized mobile computer—like Selma, as seen in the TV show TIME TRAX. Imagine leapfrogging Google’s Glass with a holographic interface, like Selma’s.
I never understood this obsession with thinness. Maybe if you kept it in your pocket and didn’t want bulges. But I use a quick-access belt clip from Seidio.