MANILA, Philippines – Apple is said to be working on some brand new designs for future iPhones by adding touchless controls and curved screens, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Previously debuting pressure-sensitive displays called 3D touch, gesture-based touchless controls seems to be Apple’s next innovation. The report said that the iPhone display Apple is currently developing detects finger gestures even without physically touching the screen. What’s more is that it takes into consideration the fingers proximity from the screen.
While this offers new user interactions with the iPhone, Samsung had already been testing gesture-based controls when it introduced the Air Gestures a few years ago. Air Gestures allow users to accept phone calls by waving their hands at a motion sensor housed on top of the phone; while Apple’s implementation involves building the sensor into the display itself.
Apple is also redesigning iPhone screens to curve inward towards the middle; different from Samsung which curve at the edges. All iPhones released so far have flat screens with only the iPhone X’s OLED screen having a slight near-invisible curve at the bottom.
Unlike LCD screens, organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens are more versatile, allowing it to be folded and curved. Apple is already planning to roll it out for upcoming iPhone models due out later this year.
Bloomberg said that these are all in very early stages of research and might take two or three more years before consumers can start seeing these innovations in their iPhones; this is if Apple chooses to move forward with it.
With its competitors constantly adopting similar features and designs, Apple is looking to make future iPhones stand out in a market that is increasingly becoming more crowded. – Rappler.com