This fall, Apple will release the phones we believe will be called the iPhone 16 series. A new report claims that the phones will look different because of bezels which are predicted to be thinner than ever. Though, if you thought iPhone bezels couldn’t get much thinner, I wouldn’t have blamed you.
The new report is from Sisa Journal and was spotted by MacRumors. It says that “Apple is set to launch four models: the iPhone 16 regular model, Plus, Pro, and ProMax, all of which are expected to introduce a new BRS (Border Reduction Structure) technology, an ultra-thin bezel technology.”
And, it explains, “BRS technology is a borderless display technology that designs the rims at the bottom of the panel as thin as possible, reducing the bottom bezel while rolling up the copper wiring at the bottom.”
It’s less common now, but it used to be that phones would have thin bezels at the sides and perhaps the top edge, but a thicker frame at the base.
The industry slimming the bezels has recognized this, with one person telling Sisa Journal, “We have not greatly reduced the bottom bezel. In fact, the borderless technology that reduces the bottom bezel has been applied to some other products before, but I know that there was a problem with the heating part. Recently, heat-controlled heat dissipation technologies have been improved and seem to be applied again.”
It’s worth noting that from the very first OLED-screened iPhone, the iPhone X, had bezels which were exactly uniform on all four sides, unlike rival phones with a wider bezel at the bottom of the phone.
This new improvement will lead the way, it seems, acting as a breakthrough to permit a narrower bezel on the difficult bottom edge, with the three other sides more easily following suit . So, how important are they?
Well, it’s one of those things you recognize when you see it. To look in the other direction, when Apple introduced the iPhone XR, its LCD screen meant it needed thicker bezels than the iPhone Xs, and at the time of its release, many said that it looked almost toy-like in comparison because of the thicker frame.
Of course, most people still clad their phones in cases, which can dilute the effect. But if you look at an iPhone 16 that’s not in a case, assuming the reports are accurate, it’s likely that the effect will be impressive, reaching almost to the very edge of the phone.
We can expect more leaks in the months before this September’s expected launch.
