After a series of rumors regarding the size of the iPhone 5 screen, a latest rumor about the thinness of the screen has just hit the market and has already gained momentum in the blogosphere.
According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple's next generation iPhone, which is already in production, will use in-cell touch display technology to reduce the thickness and weight of the device.
Asian manufacturers, including Japan's Sharp and South Korea's LG, have reportedly begun production of the next-generation displays, claimed the anonymous WSJ source.
The current iPhone 4S sports an LCD screen that comes with capacitive sensors and glass. Unlike iPhone 4S, in which "thin-film transistors" or TFT layer is separate from the touch mechanism layer, the new iPhone will have touch mechanisms inside the part of the TFT layer which will reduce the overall thickness of the phone.
The rumor of in-cell technology for iPhone 5 first came from Focus Taiwan. Later, another Taiwan newspaper DigiTimes also claimed that Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD) are working together for Apple to produce an in-cell panel in the second quarter of 2012. While Sharp is manufacturing the in-cell panels at its 5.5G lines, TMD would use its 6G lines for production, said the report.
DigiTimes also claimed that the in-cell touch panels "will have a significant impact on the operations of Apple's current touch panel suppliers TPK Holdings and Wintek, which are specialized in the production of glass on glass touch solutions currently."
In-cell panels, which not only make the device thinner and lighter and put together touch functionality with the TFT (thin-film transistor) manufacturing process, but is also said to cut the manufacturing cost of the device.
