A new report claims that future iPhones might be equipped with technology that allows you to use them without having to touch their screen with your finger.
Instead, you’ll be able to move your finger close to the screen to perform actions that would have previously relied on you making direct contact.
In addition to this touchless control, as reported by Bloomberg, Apple is also reportedly investigating using a display that would curve inwardly from top to bottom. The advantage of such a display would presumably be to make it less prone to scratches, with the main bulk of the display sitting away from the top and bottom edges.
In contrast, Samsung’s recent flagship phones have been equipped with displays that curve downwards on the left and right side to create the impression of a display with no edge.
It’s unclear whether this curved display would be an OLED panel (which are able to curve, and even roll up like with LG’s concept TV from CES 2018) or whether Apple plans to make its rumoured MicroLED screens curve.
Related: Apple baking MicroLED tech for use in future Apple Watches and iPhones
Both rumours point towards a continuation of Apple’s existing design direction. Since the iPhone 6S, the company’s ‘Raise to Wake’ technology has allowed users to check notifications without having to press a single button on the device, while the iPhone X did away with the Home Button entirely. The 6S also introduced Force Touch, which added another element to touch controls.
Touchless controls feel like the next logical step from both of these developments, giving you more ways to control your phone.
A curved screen, particularly one that curves inwards, feels like more of a new direction. Bloomberg’s report notes that the iPhone X’s screen curves ever so slightly at its bottom, but in a different direction to the way Apple is rumoured to be investigating for its future phones. The most prominent phones to feature a screen that’s curved in this way were LG’s G Flex series of handsets, but the firm appears to have dropped the design more recently.
Of course, the ultimate hope with phones is to get a fully folding screen that would allow you to have a large display without sacrificing portability. Samsung is reportedly readying such a phone, the Galaxy X, for a 2018 release, but we’ve yet to see proof that such a handset actually exists.
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