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Apple takes a page out of the Z Fold 3 display book to use in a foldable iPhone

By Daniel Petrov

Published: May 10, 2022, 2:49 AM

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Apple has begun the development of an OLED screen panel without a brightness-reducing and panel-thickening polarizer on top which is another sign it may be experimenting with foldable iPhone displays, reports The Elec.

Samsung researched a flexible OLED display without a polarizer layer and employed it for the first time on the main display of the Galaxy Z Fold 3, while Apple is still in a testing phase and may release its first device with a thinner OLED screen that doesn't have a polarizer in 2025, tip the industry insiders.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3

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While polarizers direct the light dispersion and improver on viewing angles and general visibility of an OLED screen, they also decrease the light transmittance hence increase the power consumption to achieve the same level of brightness, and make the panels thicker.

"Instead of using a polarizer film, Samsung Display printed a color filter on the thin film encapsulation and added a black pixel define layer," says the report. The black layer was put in place of the photo-sensitive orange polyimide one that was packaged with the polarizer before in order to offset the color disturbance that would have resulted from using the old orange layer with the new color filter.

Removing the polarizer resulted in 25% less power consumption and 33% higher light transmittance which explains Samsung's marketing name for the technology, ECO2 (or Eco Square).

Display measurements and quality

	Brightness max(100%APL)Higher is better	Brightness minLower is better	ContrastHigher is better	Color temperature(Kelvins)	Gamma	Delta E rgbcmyLower is better	Delta E grayscaleLower is better
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3	752 (Average)	1.6 (Good)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	6288 (Excellent)	2	2.4 (Good)	4.52 (Average)
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2	615 (Average)	1.6 (Good)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	6721 (Excellent)	2	2.64 (Good)	5.84 (Average)
Huawei Mate Xs	430 (Poor)	1.1 (Good)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	6662 (Excellent)	2.32	2.73 (Good)	2.63 (Good)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3	727 (Average)	1.7 (Good)	unmeasurable (Excellent)	6425 (Excellent)	1.99	1.59 (Excellent)	2.32 (Good)

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The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.

These measurements are made using Portrait Displays' CalMAN calibration software.

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As you can see from our Galaxy Z Fold 3 display benchmarks above, there has certainly been an improvement in color accuracy and brightness levels in comparison with the polarizer-endowed Z Fold 2.

The fact that Apple is also working with Korean OLED display manufacturers on a display without a polarizer layer indicates another step towards a foldable iPhone or another foldable Apple device release at some point in the not-so-near future.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.

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Apple takes a page out of the Z Fold 3 display book to use in a foldable iPhone

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