A new supply chain report suggests that Apple could bring the same advanced display technology to two of its devices in 2027. Previous reports have indicated that Apple is planning to adopt a new approach to making displays thinner and brighter in the upcoming Vision Air, and a new report today says the company could also use this tech to at least one iPhone in the same year … The ongoing quest for thinner and brighter displays Smartphone displays initially required separate layers for each function. There was one layer for the display output itself, another for touch sensing, another for filtering out internal reflections, yet another for protection against scratches, and so on. Each layer adds thickness, cost, and complexity – and also reduces the amount of light making it through the stack. What we’ve seen over the past number of years is an ongoing quest to incorporate multiple functions into fewer layers in order to reduce thickness and boost brightness. An approach Samsung has been using for its foldable phones could be extended to both standard smartphones and headsets like the Vision Pro: CoE. Eliminating one more layer with CoE Although we typically think of OLED screens as having color light-emitting diodes, they actually use white emitters with RGB color filters on top in order to create the colors, adding a layer. What Samsung has developed is a method of combining the light-emitting and color filter functionality into a single glass board: color filter on encapsulation (CoE). This makes displays both thinner and brighter. Maybe coming to Vision Air and a 2027 iPhone It’s long been suggested that Apple may use CoE displays for the Vision Air product we’re expecting in 2027, and ETNews indicates that it may also be used in at least one iPhone the same year. Samsung is reportedly keen to ensure that it uses the tech in its own non-folding smartphones before it supplies CoE displays to Apple in 2027. An industry official said, “Apple plans to apply COE to bar-type smartphones in 2027 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iPhone launch,” and “We are trying to apply new technology to the top-level model to emphasize that Samsung applied it before Apple.” 20th anniversary iPhone Former Apple design chief Jony Ive long held a vision for an iPhone that would effectively be a single slab of glass, and it’s believed the company is still working toward this. The iPhone X was a significant step toward that goal, and the iPhone Air another. It’s been suggested that we might finally see a bezel-free iPhone in 2027. Some have suggested that this might get its own name, reflecting the 20th anniversary of the iPhone, while Bloomberg says that it will simply be the iPhone 19 Pro. Highlighted accessories Photo by Sebastian Svenson on Unsplash