Isn’t it typical of Apple to wait for an emerging technology until it’s good enough to meet the company’s exacting standards? The company is, according to a new report from Apple Analyst at TF International Securities Ming Chi Kuofinally testing flexible color e-ink displays for future foldable devices.
We’ll assume these devices are future foldable iPhones and future foldable iPads. But why wait? Who wouldn’t love a secondary screen on the back of the iPhone 14, which we think will arrive in September or October of this year.
Before we dive into this, let’s take another look at Kuo’s rumor, which we also reported on here.
Apple is testing E Ink’s Electronic Paper Display (EPD) for future tablet-like applications and foldable device cover screens. Color EPD has the potential to become a mainstream solution for the must-have cover/second screen of foldable devices due to its excellent power savings.May 17, 2022
Color e-ink displays, which work with reflective light, as opposed to backlighting, are not new. Companies like Qualcomm have been showing them off for more than a decade. But only recently have they achieved color, refresh and battery life standards that could make them a viable alternative to, say, the flexible OLED screens favored by most foldable device makers.
Yes, they make perfect sense for the exterior of some flexi-iPhone or iPad, but they could also be a game changer on the iPhone 14 (or iPhone 15).
I understand how carefully Apple protects its Design IP; that iconic Apple logo has been placed in the center of the back of virtually every iPhone since 2007’s ‘Jesus’ device. Nothing can come between Apple, the iPhone and that logo.
And that’s fine.
But if you have an iPhone, take a look at the back. There’s a solid two inches (or more if you have an iPhone 13 Pro Max) between the base of the logo and the bottom edge of the iPhone.
A color e-ink display would fit right in there, and if you think this is a bit of a fantasy, it’s actually been done before and on a larger scale.
Normally, a second screen, even an OLED one, could eat up too much battery life (yes, I know Samsung’s Z Flip 3 also has a small super AMOLED secondary screen on the back). However, there are several reasons why the new E Ink color display could work just fine on the iPhone 14.
a different screen
First of all, it’s reflective technology, which means you can see everything at a glance, without even activating the phone. I often keep my iPhone face down on the table next to me, and many people do the same. With this second screen, you can look and see a notification or even, because it’s in color, an image someone just shared with you.
Second, color e-ink consumes more power than LCDs and even OLEDs. Instead of constantly updating to keep an image on the screen, you can display it and E Ink will keep it until you touch the screen and open a different view. Plus, the newest E Ink display works in both color and black and white. In theory, an iPhone 14 owner could choose to run the external display in B&W mode to save even more power.
There would be obvious limits. E Ink still tops out at 300ppi, while the current Retina Super XDR display in the iPhone 13 boasts 460ppi. And its refresh rates are abysmal compared to OLED and LCD. It will work for messages, still images and alerts, but forget about videos and games.
There’s no indication that Apple is testing E Ink in color in order to bring a secondary display to the iPhone 14, but wouldn’t it be awesome if they did?
