Tag: LG Display

Apple and Samsung are both expected to launch ultra-thin smartphones this year. The iPhone 17 Air will be Apple’s thinnest iPhone 17 flavor and the thinnest iPhone ever made. The Galaxy S25 Slim will also be much thinner than the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup.

The iPhone 17 Air was the first to appear in rumors and reports, while the Galaxy S25 Slim showed up in leaks only recently. However, the release order will be reversed.

Word on the street is that the Galaxy S25 Slim will make an appearance at Unpacked this month but hit stores in the second quarter of the year. The iPhone 17 Air will be unveiled in the first half of September and start selling in stores about 10 days later.

This would make it seem like Samsung was the first to the market with an ultra-thin phone. Regardless of the Slim’s appeal to the public, I still expect Samsung to use it as a marketing tool the second Apple unveils the iPhone 17 Air this September.

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But who was really the first to come up with the idea of making an ultra-thin handset? A new story from Korea offers the answer you might already be expecting.

Korean-language news outlet SisaJournal detailed both ultra-thin devices in a report, repeating some of the claims that appeared in other rumors.

The iPhone 17 Air will have a profile of around 6.25mm, which is up to 1.6mm thinner than the iPhone 15 (7.8mm). The Galaxy S25 Slim will be slightly thicker than the Air at 6.6mm, but the Samsung phone will still be thinner than the 7.6mm Galaxy S24. The Galaxy S25 Slim could have a big camera advatage over the Air, a multi-lens camera on the back.

The report also notes that the iPhone 17 Air will replace the Plus model. The Air will be unveiled in September and cost about as much as the Plus. This is where things get interesting, as the report quotes an unnamed industry official who said Apple has already completed product planning for the iPhone 17 Air.

Moving on to Samsung, the report says the Korean giant will unveil the Galaxy S25 series soon. But the Galaxy S25 Slim will be released in the second or third quarter of 2025. This release window would still ensure that Samsung’s ultra-thin phone will be available in stores before the iPhone 17 Air launches.

The Galaxy S25 Slim’s price will be lower than the Ultra, which isn’t a surprising claim. The report cites an official from the smartphone industry saying that the Galaxy S25 Slim can’t be expensive. Its main purpose is to respond to the iPhone 17 Air preemptively. Samsung also wants to see how the market reacts to a thinner flagship phone.

The report says that Samsung decided to make a Galaxy S25 Slim phone only when Apple decided to go forward with the iPhone 17 Air model. That could settle the upcoming dispute about which ultra-thin phone came first. Then again, none of this is official.

How would Samsung even know about Apple’s plans? For starters, we’ve had rumors about the iPhone 17 Air long before the Galaxy S25 showed up in leaks. We also know that Samsung phones are never well-kept secrets. Neither is the iPhone, but Apple at least manages to save a few surprises here and there.

More importantly, Samsung Display and LG Display are rumored to supply the LTPO OLED panels Apple needs for the entire iPhone 17 series. All four phones should support ProMotion (120Hz refresh rate).

The iPhone 17 Air screen will be smaller than the iPhone 16 Plus. It might have other particularities that Samsung and LG would have to be aware of during the manufacturing phase. Therefore, Samsung would have some knowledge that the iPhone 17 series might see a specific design change.

Separately, I’ll point out that Samsung made an ultra-thin foldable last year. The Galaxy Z Fold SE is a limited edition device released in Korea and China a few months ago. Samsung only developed it after years of pressure from competitors. The handset seems to be a success, and rumors say the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will inherit that design.

What I’m getting at is that Samsung has the tech to make such devices happen, whether they’re foldables or not. It doesn’t have the courage to be first, even if it’ll say so once the Galaxy S25 Slim beats the iPhone 17 Air to market.

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I’m ready to buy the iPhone 17 Air, even if that means dealing with several compromises Apple will have to make to create a thinner iPhone than ever before. By that, I mean I’m ready for a single-lens camera, potentially worse battery life than what you’d expect from a typical 6.6-inch iPhone, and a single speaker on the bottom.

I’d even be ready to use a 60Hz display rather than one that supports ProMotion. After all, I did that for two years with the iPhone 14 Pro. That actually might have helped me get used to the iPhone 16 Plus’s 60Hz screen. I had no problem transitioning to a non-ProMotion screen during my two-month stint with the iPhone 16 Plus.

However, it looks like the iPhone 16 will be the last generation in which the non-Pro iPhones lack 120Hz refresh rate support. We have already seen a series of reports saying that Apple will bring LTPO tech to all iPhone 17 models, including the iPhone 17 Air, and there’s another story out that seemingly confirms this development.

LTPO is a key display tech that allows Apple to offer dynamic refresh rates on ProMotion devices with OLED panels. The refresh rate adapts to what’s showing on the screen, dropping as low as 1Hz in some instances rather than staying at 120Hz, regardless of what you might be doing. The benefit of dynamic refresh rate screens is that they conserve battery life.

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On that note, that’s probably one way I improved battery life on the iPhone 14 Pro, as my refresh rate moves between 1Hz and 60Hz rather than the full 120Hz.

My display preferences aside, plenty of iPhone users have rightly called out Apple for restricting the ProMotion displays to the Pro models. Meanwhile, many Android vendors ship mid-range phones that support 120Hz refresh rates.

Thankfully, all iPhone models will get ProMotion screens, starting with the iPhone 17 series. Korean website DT penned the latest report that says Apple suppliers are preparing to meet Apple’s OLED panel needs for the iPhone 17.

The report says that all four iPhone 17 models will use LTPO OLED panels, which implies that the iPhone 17 Air will support 120Hz refresh rates. The story doesn’t single out the ultra-thin iPhone or the other three models, instead focusing on the suppliers.

If the information is accurate, LG Display will be the big winner of Apple’s iPhone 17 screen orders. The Korean company had a 10% share of orders last year, which grew to 30% this year. LG’s share will continue to rise next year when it will account for 40% of Apple’s OLED panel needs.

Chinese company BOE is apparently the big loser, as it is unable to manufacture the LTPO panels Apple wants for the iPhone 17.

Samsung will continue to get the lion’s share of OLED panels for the iPhone, likely accounting for 60% of orders.

M4 iPad Pro OLED display. Image source: José Adorno for BGR

The inability of OLED panel vendors to meet Apple’s production needs might explain why Apple has kept using LTPS 60Hz OLED panels in non-Pro handsets so far, but that’s just speculation from this iPhone user. Apple sells over 200 million iPhones every year, so its display needs dwarf those of rivals.

The DT story implies that supply is an issue, as it explains that LG will not build new manufacturing lines to accommodate a larger influx of orders from Apple. Instead, LG will retool its iPad Pro OLED screen production line to manufacture iPhone displays.

Apple’s M4 iPad Pro hasn’t been selling as well as expected, so LG’s move makes sense. While the Korean company won’t confirm such changes, it did say during the Q3 earnings report that it plans to adapt its production infrastructure to market conditions.

LG adapting to Apple’s needs will have an unwanted side effect. The report says LG’s investments in a next-gen supply facility of OLED panels for tablets and laptops will be slightly delayed. Interestingly, Apple is expected to use OLED panels in more products, including the iPad mini, MacBook Air, and a foldable Mac/iPad set to launch sometime in the next four years.

Back to the iPhone 17, the report doesn’t mention screen sizes for the four phones. I’d expect Apple to stick with the 6.1-inch, 6.3-inch, and 6.9-inch screen sizes for the iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max, respectively. Rumors say the iPhone 17 Air should feature a 6.6-inch display.

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