It seems so, at least according to a report recently published by Bloomberg just this week. The talk is that Apple is apparently already starting to toy with the idea of developing a new iPhone model that can interact with the mobile user through the use of touchless gesture controls. In addition to this, the next generation iPhone offering is said to sport a curved screen.
Before we begin drooling rainbows over these admittedly exciting features, it is worth mentioning that they are just nothing but rumors for now. And Bloomberg’s report did state that if these rumors later turn out to be true, it is likely that it will still take Apple about a couple of years before it can release that potentially jaw dropping iPhone model.
But then again, the touchless thing is indeed pretty mind blowing. The touchless gesture control would work by having the iOS mobile user just move his or her finger just above the display without needing to make contact. Some might say it would be just like Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, but done on the smaller screens of iPhone devices.
Apple has had a stellar track record of experimenting with new ways to interact with electronic devices. Steve Jobs himself is credited for contributing immensely in introducing to the rest of the world in the early 1980s what a mouse can do. Perhaps a great example of a more recent (and more familiar) interactive feature is the 3D Touch (an advanced version of Force Touch) that the tech giant introduced with the release of its iPhone 6s models back in 2015. With 3D Touch technology, newer iPhones can now respond accordingly to varying pressures of the user’s fingertips. It is a sure bet that with the so-called touchless gesture controls, the second biggest mobile brand in the world will once again be doing some trail blazing.
As for the curved screen design, there is speculation that Apple is looking to adopt iPhone displays that slowly curve inward from the top section to the bottom part. This should not be confused with rival Samsung’s Galaxy devices, which curve to the side edges. A curved iPhone is strictly nothing new, given the fact that the iPhone X's organic light emitting diode (OLED) screen happens to slightly curve at the bottom section. But an iPhone fitted with a screen that curves inward is certainly a fresh concept. This is of course made possible by the flexible properties of OLED panels, which unlike LCD (liquid crystal display) screens, can be shaped into curving structures. Additionally, Apple is also rumored to be working on developing its own micro LED screens, which are are even more bright and better at power efficiency compared to OLED displays.
