Apple testing e-ink display for its foldable iPhone

A folding iPhone has been in news for a while now. A recent report has said that there is a possibility for an e-ink display to feature in the secondary screen on an upcoming foldable iPhone. Apple is reportedly testing a kind of e-ink display which displays crisp text along with a brighter display and off-course rich colors. It is expected to be better than the conventional technology. The e-ink or ePaper display is no stranger as it has already been used in the Amazon Kindles  and more e-book readers.

The technology works specifically for  the e-readers as it displays paper-like appearance  and also consume less power. Talking about the first generation of the e-ink displays it was black on white or vice-versa. But now the technology has improved with color support as well. However, the technology has its own drawbacks as it has  a very slow refresh rate which makes it usable only for ebooks. This could be used if the user is turning the page every 30 seconds but might not be usable for dynamic usage that are needed for primary displays on smartphones or laptops.

But the good news is that they could be used for secondary displays  that have less dynamic content. Popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, has said that Apple intends to come up with a promising foldable iPhone at some point. Kuo added that a foldable device typically needs a secondary display that is visible when the device remains folded. Usually the usage of the secondary screen is to display time and notifications.

The foldable smartphones that currently exist in the market have OLED screens for external displays. But usage of an e-ink display sounds good as the kind of content that is displayed on the secondary display does not change very often. Which means the refreshment rate does not really matter here. Moreover, it will also mean less consumption of battery.

Photo Credits: 9to5 Mac