Apple may configure ink screen for foldable devices and tablets
Apple may configure ink screen for foldable devices and tablets, Ming-Chi Kuo said, the ink sub-screen is more power-saving, but also to ensure that the content continues to be displayed, and the color ink screen has the potential to become the mainstream solution for the sub-screen of the folding screen phone. Apple may configure the ink screen for foldable devices and tablets.
Apple may configure the ink screen for foldable devices and tablets.1Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known Apple analyst, said that Apple is testing an e-ink screen (EPD), which will be used in the future for the cover screen of foldable devices and tablets. It is reported that the color e-ink screen is likely to become the mainstream solution for the cover or second screen necessary for foldable devices due to its excellent power-saving performance.
Apple iPad Air
It is not difficult to find that the audience of ink screen products is not a lot of people, and many people's understanding of these products is limited to e-readers. However, in the last year or two, the ink screen market seems to have a new vigor.
On the market, there are constantly new ink screen products launched. Previously, because of its unique light-emitting technology principles and compared to the color screen can be "directly ignored" power consumption, ink screen are generally used for e-books. However, with technological breakthroughs, ink screen applications are more extensive. Apple's test of e-ink screen, but also the future of the new product will be launched more worthy of expectation.
Not long ago, Apple released its fiscal year 2022 second-quarter earnings report. The data show that as of March 26, Apple's total net revenue for the second fiscal quarter was $97.278 billion, an increase of 9% year-on-year, and net profit was $25.010 billion, an increase of 6% year-on-year. Among them, Greater China revenue was $18.343 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year.
It is worth mentioning that early this morning, Apple pushed the official version of iOS 15.5, the version number is the same as iOS 15.5 RC version. Mobile China learned that iOS 15.5 optimizes the AppleCash card and fixes some bugs for HomeKit.
Apple may configure an ink screen for foldable devices and tablets2In recent years, all major manufacturers have released their folding-screen cell phones, and only the tech giant Apple does not have a folding-screen phone. Today, according to well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo broke the news that Apple is testing an electronic ink screen, and folding screen iPhones and tablets will carry this configuration in the future.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, the ink sub-screen is more power efficient, and also guarantees a continuous display of content, and the color ink screen is likely to become the mainstream solution for the sub-screen of folding screen phones. At present, the color ink screen technology is not mature, there are still some problems to be solved, which in the ink screen embedded LED beads to assist in lighting is one of the difficulties faced by Apple, so it will take some time before we can see the specific effect.
Some industry insiders broke the news on May 9 that Apple and leading e-paper company Yuantai reached a cooperation to develop a new "iPhone". It is said that the new iPhone adopts a new design, with the advantages of low power consumption of electronic paper, eye protection, so as to add some selling points for the new machine.
From the breaking news, the new iPhone in the guarantee of the original design based on the back of the phone to add two pieces of electronic paper created by the secondary screen, become a multi-screen Apple cell phone. The new iPhone will be a multi-screen device that will display power, network status, volume, Bluetooth connectivity, and other information, and another that will display text information, which will significantly reduce the power consumption of the main screen, strobe, and blue light problems in daily use.
Industry insiders believe that the new machine may already be not far from the market, the fastest can be in the next year or so. He also said that this kind of iPhone is more practical, not only can stimulate the sales of Apple's cell phone, but also can drive the shipments of YuanTai electronic paper display.
In fact, long before the dual-screen iPhone broke the news, there have been a lot of manufacturers have explored, such as Yota, a subsidiary of the Russian telecom company Yota launched the YotaPhone, the model with the YuanTai built e-paper secondary screen. Hisense, which focuses on ink screens, has also launched a dual-screen phone with a color screen + ink screen, and manufacturers such as Meizu and Nubia have a different view of the secondary screen, launching Meizu Pro 7, Nubia X, and other dual-screen phones with different forms.
The idea of dual-screen is novel and highly practical, take the ink screen + color screen combination as an example, the ink screen can display the working status of the device and text information for a long time, even under strong light, the readability of the ink screen is still high, the user can get important news in a short period of time, and the impact on the machine's battery life is extremely small.
It's a shame that the built-in e-paper secondary screen on the back of the phone affects the unity of the back panel's appearance, and the sales of dual-screen phones have not been high enough to be successful from a business perspective. I don't think Apple will launch a machine with a secondary screen, and the average user probably won't like the logic of needing to turn the phone upside down to operate it. Dual-screen phones do have a certain audience, but not as high as regular straight phones, and Apple shouldn't take the dual-screen detour again.
For Apple, practical and mature is the core of the iPhone, do not need to add a secondary screen to attract consumers to buy such a selling point, now Apple folding screen phone are not officially landing news, not to mention the multi-screen iPhone this "fancy" `products.
Apple may configure an ink screen for foldable devices and tablets3On May 17, Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on Twitter that Apple is testing E Ink Electronic Paper Displays (EPDs) for use in the future cover screen of foldable devices, or tablets. Kuo emphasized that color EPDs can be expected to be a solution for the external or secondary screen of foldable devices thanks to their excellent energy-saving properties.
Let the more surprising is that Apple tested the E Ink electronic paper display solution, unlike the vast majority of black and white ink screen on the market, color EPD can present more colors at the same time, but also has the characteristics of electronic paper low power consumption. Not long ago there are industry insiders broke the news that Apple and leading e-paper company Yuantai reached a cooperation, is developing a multi-screen design with the iPhone, presumably will also be used to color EPD sub-screen program.
It is understood that the new iPhone's secondary screen is mainly used to display power, network status, volume, Bluetooth connectivity and other device status, generally working in the device standby state. With the color EPD, the secondary screen can even display picture information, or custom patterns. However, Apple hasn't been very good at personalization, and customizing the back screen pattern like the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is highly unlikely.
Thanks to the low power consumption, the color EPD can also be the outer screen part of the foldable iPhone, perhaps Apple still has plans to launch a foldable, multi-screen model. Of course, the electronic paper display refresh rate is relatively low, the practicality may not be as good as OLED, Apple will not necessarily be in the already mature iPhone "forced" to increase the selling point.
In contrast, it is thought that Apple will use the color EPD to launch an office product similar in size to the iPad, with the Apple Pencil to achieve productivity, such as meeting notes, annotated PDF, handwriting to text, voice memos, etc., thanks to the color EPD, and can even be used to complete simple design, drawing work, the feasibility of which will be higher than the secondary screen, external screen.
At present, the market size of e-paper products is not very large, if Apple is able to solve the inherent shortcomings of e-paper devices in terms of functionality, in virtue of Apple's strong appeal, that can still find a breakthrough and become a new iOS office products. But the breaking news so long folding screen iPhone have not been launched, I'm afraid that e-paper tablet to wait longer.