A Decade of Devices — Predictions for the iPhones’ Tenth Anniversary

Smartphones, upon their release, gradually eclipsed all other types of mobile device. Drawn by added functionality that transcended what a phone was thought to be capable of, users were thrilled to abandon blocky flip phones and pagers in favor of something new.

Now, Apple may be bringing its phones full circle, in a way.

In a recent development, Apple has patented a certain variety of flexible display devices, which may one day lead to a bendable iPhone. Considering the controversy over the iPhone 6 bending(albeit under 90 pounds of pressure in the center of the screen), there’s a sort of hilarious irony in these aspirations. It would seem that the iPhone is returning to its ancestral roots, creating a design that is an interesting blend of old and new.

This isn’t the first time that the concept of bendable phones has been discussed; Samsung and Lenovo showed off their ideas for similar devices earlier this year.

This new display is made possible by an organic light-emitting diode(OLED) screen. The “organic” part of OLED comes from the screens, capable of lighting individual pixels, being made of carbon and hydrogen. Despite LED displays being the norm on the mobile market, OLED has seen a surge of interest for its thinner phone bodies and better image quality. The technology could lead to possible applications in the ever-changing world of ubiquitous computing, such as OLED-enabled lamps, televisions, and wearables.

Apple’s suppliers in Asia have confirmed that the company has requested a number of OLED displays, perhaps an indication that these new bendable phones will come sooner than we thought. Given that the iPhone’s tenth anniversary is coming up next March, it’s entirely possible that this is the optimal time for Apple to try something new with its displays.

Additionally, rumors state that the iPad will be another member of the Apple family to get a redesign, putting a possible reveal right before the iPhone anniversary. The iPad seems to also be recreated with the motto that “less is more,” with plans to remove the prevalent home button and create an almost bezel-less device.

As far as innovations go, this is one of the more interesting ones. The “all-screen tablet” feels very sci-fi, and the minimalist concept certainly fits in with Apple’s existing aesthetic. It’s slightly thicker and gives you a bit more screen — so it’s interesting, but maybe not as revolutionary as the new iPhone could be.

Apple has always been a company to make heavy use of Occam’s Razor, and the progress they have made is inevitably marked by trying to remove as much chaff as possible. Most notably, these rumors come in the wake of complaints about Apple adding a touchbar to its laptops and removing the wired headphone jack (See my thoughts on this here!).

So where do they go from here? I’m fairly certain that we’re a little far from every Apple product being a featureless screen of some size, but there’s a lot to consider. Improvements to battery life would certainly not go amiss, particularly with today’s smartphone users occasionally fondly reminiscing about the multi-day battery life that old cell phones offered. Of course, those phones didn’t have the sort of burdens or see as heavy use as smartphones, but advancements in laptop batteries and energy-efficient OLED displays seem to indicate that the days of hardy, long-lasting phones may be making a resurgence.

In spite of the endless debate surrounding it, Apple has a lot of be proud of when it comes to ten years of iPhones. Whether the next model will be incremental or revolutionary is currently unknown, as is what the next advancement in smartphone technology will be. That said, we can make some educated guesses about how the market can be revamped with durable, compact phones — perhaps having learned a thing or two from their predecessors.