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Imagine this nightmare scenario. In mid-September, the iPhone 16 series was just released, but it was sold out because Apple could not secure enough OLED panels. Display vendors are struggling to achieve the ultra-thin bezels Apple demands.
Of course, that will never happen. Samsung, LG, and BOE will eventually be able to secure adequate yields and allow Apple to ship tens of millions of iPhone 16 devices. I’m referring to recent rumors that screen makers are failing to ship new iPhone 16 panels with so-called Border Reduction Structure (BRS), or bezels that are supposed to be ultra-thin.
At this point I’m seriously annoyed that it’s 2024 and cell phone vendors, including Apple, are still talking about bezel size. This isn’t about 2017 or early 2018, when no smartphone vendor could achieve the perfect symmetry and thinness of the iPhone X’s bezels. The bezel is small enough. Now it doesn’t matter whether it’s symmetrical or not.
On the other hand, I don’t care if the iPhone 16 Pro or non-Pro models have smaller bezels than their predecessors, I understand that. I know why it has to happen. This is a difficult technological advancement, and it may seem that it is not always necessary. But Apple, Samsung, and other companies can’t stop improving smartphone design just because the going gets tough. Apple in particular will feel the pressure to continue pushing the envelope.
When the iPhone X was released in 2017, it wasn’t the first “all-screen” phone. It wasn’t the first smartphone with a notch display either. But Apple has pulled off a design trick that no one else can pull off. All Android clones that followed the iPhone X were packed with huge bottom bezels.
There’s no denying that Apple won the design battle. Everyone else in the industry quickly adapted, and more or less symmetrical bezels became the norm for all-screen smartphones.
Apple’s iPhone X bezel design wasn’t easy, especially in its early stages. Nearly seven years later, Apple is pushing the envelope once again. A Korean report explains Apple’s BRS problem as follows:
Achieving a thin bezel requires placing the circuitry under the bezel closer together and bending some wiring downwards, which increases the technical difficulty. It is known that no company has the stable iPhone OLED production yield that Apple desires.
Of course, none of this is official. However, if this report is accurate, it means that even Samsung has not been able to improve the yield of its OLED panels with ultra-thin bezels.
Why would Apple do that? Again, because you have to. Apple wants to expand the screen size of the iPhone 16 Pro unit without making the phone itself significantly larger. One way he does this is by cutting off the already thin bezel. Eventually, Apple may want to remove the bezel entirely. Until then, we need incremental innovation.
But if Apple is happy with the bezels on the iPhone 15 Pro, shouldn’t it be better? not much. Someone else will do what Apple is currently doing and win the bragging rights of beating the iPhone in the process.
And since Apple pays Samsung, LG, and BOE to manufacture such smartphone screens, we can expect other smartphone vendors to include screens with ultra-thin bezels in the coming years as well. . The more reliable the manufacturing process becomes, the more companies will seek out similar displays.
As a long-time iPhone user, I’m absolutely happy with what I have. I didn’t really care about the bezel size. But I see this problem as a smartphone user who doesn’t expect any major design innovations in the near future. There’s no way a smartphone vendor like Apple would have the same mindset. They need to move forward as aggressively as possible.
If these iPhone 16 OLED design rumors are correct, future design leaks should confirm it. Also, as Apple’s September event approaches, we’re sure to see leaks of screen protectors, perhaps confirming the size of these ultra-thin bezels.
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