If you were alive and old enough to have a cell phone in the early 2000s, you remember the unadulterated joy of hanging up on someone by dramatically closing your flip phone. Younger kids of the smartphone generation might never have known just how great that felt—unless new reports about Apple developing a foldable phone are true.
The report comes from an industry insider who alleges Apple will begin using LG Display as a “second supplier” for OLED panels in upcoming premium iPhone models. These screens provide a broader contrast range and deeper blacks, per Inverse. The deal is reportedly worth “millions of dollars.”
"Initially, Apple will get between three million and five million OLED displays from LG Display. LG plans to increase its production capacity," an industry official told The Korea Times on Thursday.
These displays will be crucial for Apple’s plans for new iPhone features which could include the famous flip phones.
"Apple is attempting to release new iPhones with enhanced features next year and it is eyeing developing foldable iPhones, which will come several years later,” the source said.
This isn’t the first time reports have indicated Apple is interested in flip phones. Of course, don’t assume that Apple is going to come out with Motorola Razr copies. Wamsi Mohan, a Bank of America analyst, predicted back in March that Apple would release a high-tech foldable phone that could double as a tablet by 2020.
MOTOROLA RAZR BACK!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/2nJruvsqfm
The Chicago Tribune investigated this potential next generation of phones. Besides foldable screens, they could include up to 9 cameras, batteries that charge over radio frequencies or infrared light (essentially creating phones that charge all day over “thin air”), and glasses that would work as "lightweight, wearable computer[s]" and could work with AR technology.
It's important to keep in mind all of these are unconfirmed reports, and any major changes would come years down the line. In any case, if we're now living through a '90s comeback, a flip phone comeback, and heralding a '00s resurgence, it would only make sense in a few years' time.
