Although still a niche market, foldable devices and mainly tablet/smartphone hybrids are of interest to more and more customers, and therefore, more and more manufacturers.
Samsung offers for example the Galaxy Z Fold 3 while Oppo offers the Find N. The common point of these two smartphones is to offer a large internal screen, as well as a secondary display on the outside.
According to Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is testing a color foldable screen from the E Ink company with electronic ink. At the same time as the announcement of the Gallery 3, the company E Ink had briefly shown a foldable version.
Apple is testing E Ink’s Electronic Paper Display (EPD) for future foldable device’s cover screen & tablet-like applications. The color EPD has the potential to become a mainstream solution for foldable devices’ must-have cover/second screen thanks to its excellent power-saving.
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 17, 2022
E-ink rather than OLED?
Apple is not expected on the foldable device market before 2025 according to specialists, which does not prevent the brand from carrying out tests upstream. But would it be relevant to offer an external screen with electronic ink?
It’s all a question of use, current competitors offer outdoor OLED screens. This technology makes it possible to display richer, brighter colors than an E-ink screen and are above all much more reactive (at maximum resolution, the Gallery 3 refreshes in about one second). For its part, the E-ink screen is much more energy efficient and can be used for an “always on” display.
In this kind of use, the refresh rate is no longer a problem and the device even gains a comfortable reading light function. On the other hand, this would force the user to open the device to use it. Of course, this technology could also be used to create a new Smart Cover for the iPad, which would add an always-on display and a nice strong e-reader function to Apple’s tablet.
Either way, the development process may still take a while. It’s a safe bet that more information will leak out before the release of an Apple device equipped with a foldable screen.