I told you last week that Apple could use a new technology called "in-cell" to build the touch screens of his iPhones and now we find out how beneficial would be its implementation. I told you then that the iPhone would be thinner, and a Chinese analyst claims that this technology would contribute to reducing the thickness of the iDevice by approximately 15%, and in the image above you have everything explained. The Chinese analyst imagines that Apple will reduce the size of the display by 0.44 mm, reduce the size of the battery by 0.46 mm and finally reduce the size of the glass that covers the back case, all these changes resulting in a reduction of 1.44 mm in thickness the device.
Since Apple's smartphone competitors have generally slimmed down their high-end offerings to 7-8mm, Apple needs to make a leap forward from 4S' 9.3mm thickness. We believe Apple will aim at 8mm or below (at least 1.4mm slimmer) for iPhone 5, in a bid to ensure brisk sales through 2014, while peers will also continue to introduce increasingly slim models next year. As such, all iPhone 4S components that account for thickness must be slimmer, specifically, touch panel, battery and casing. Moreover, a marginal amount of space is required between the three parts for the sake of assembly tolerance and thermal expansion of components.
The iPhone imagined by the Chinese would be only 7.9 mm thick, but of course we are talking about some assumptions that in everyday life could be completely wrong considering that no one knows for sure what the Apple company is preparing. Even so, the use of "in-cell" technology would not only help to reduce the size of the device, but would also simplify the screen production process, since fewer steps would be required to assemble the touch panels. It is estimated that the implementation of this technology would reduce the screen manufacturing process from 12-16 days to only 3-5 days and here Apple would have a lot to gain.
The "in-cell" technology is announced to be very useful, but it remains to be seen if Apple will use it.
