New iPhone With Camera Embedded On Screen And Bendable Samsung Displays Possible By 2017, Rumors Say

There are two main ways to look at the current smartphone landscape. The glass-half-full approach is to appreciate the fact that smartphone production quality have become so consistent across the board that even budget handsets from obscure companies run smoothly and offer a more-than-usable experience for the average consumer. The glass-half-empty approach is to point out that smartphone tech has plateaued in recent years — that no phone has been a true game-changer like the first and fourth iPhone.

If rumors are to go by, however, 2017 could be the year that smartphones begin to wow again. Bloomberg is reporting that Samsung is planning on releasing phones with bendable and foldable screens. While the Apple rumor mill is buzzing about a new iPhone (not the one coming this fall, but the one after that) that will rock a edge-to-edge display (meaning no bezels) with its front-facing camera and fingerprint scanner embedded on the screen itself.

A concept image of what the rumored 2017 iPhone could look like, by Concepts iPhone.

If true, these two phones would obviously put an end to all “smartphone tech has plateaued” talk. Ever since the birth of portable video gadgets, manufacturers have tried to find the perfect line between portability and generous screen size. If Samsung’s folding-screen tech is for real, this solves everything — we could have, say, an 8-inch screen that folds into the size of a wallet. Same goes for that rumored iPhone — if Apple can find a way to put its fingerprint recognition system directly onto the display, that means bulky bezels are no longer necessary.

Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities in Seoul, told Bloombergthat Samsung is working hard to come up with a user interface that’s suitable for a bendable display, which makes use of organic light-emitting diodes. Meanwhile, the iPhone rumors come from popular Apple blogger John Gruber, who said on his podcast The Talk Show that Apple will also go with an OLED panel for its 2017 phone.

Another concept image of the rumored bezel-less iPhone, by Marek Weidlich.

While both are just rumors at this point, it’s worth pointing out that Samsung talked about working on a foldable display way back in 2013 at a conference for investors. In fact, the company ran a mock commercial showcasing the teach, and said it would be ready by 2017.