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Sources say that LG Innotek is developing an off-screen camera to prepare for Apple's full iPhone screen.

Shulou Source: shulou.com Published: 2023-12-24 09:54:37 10月03日 Update

CTOnews.com, December 6 (Xinhua)-- LG Innotek, a materials and components company owned by LG, is currently supplying key components such as camera modules to Apple. A few days ago, it was also reported in the supply chain that Apple's iPhone 16 Pro will also use a quadruple reflection prism, and LG Innotek will be the big winner in the fruit chain.

THE ELEC quoted industry insiders as saying that LG Innotek has begun to develop an off-screen camera (UPC) solution, which is clearly aimed at competing for Apple's "full screen" iPhone order. It is said that Apple has received UPC samples from relevant companies, but the evaluation results are not satisfactory.

According to sources, LG Innotek is developing a special lens called "free surface lens", which can overcome existing problems such as insufficient light transmittance.

At the same time, LG Display has also begun to develop UPC display panels. The company aims to increase the light transmittance of UPC to 20% by 2023 and to 40% by 2024. It is worth mentioning that LG Display plans to use transparent PI substrates instead of traditional polyimide (PI) substrates in UPC applications.

CTOnews.com query found that LG Innotek applied for patents related to the off-screen camera in the previous two years (the term "free-form lens" is included in the patent specification) and made public earlier this year, including "optical system, camera module and mobile terminal" (10-2021-0185321), "optical module" (10-2021-0114295) and "optical module" (10-2021-0115134).

Ross Young, CEO of supply chain Consulting (DSCC), has previously pointed out that although testing begins as early as 2022, don't expect the off-screen Face ID to appear on iPhone before 2025.

According to his prediction, we won't see Apple adopt a "single-hole" solution instead of the existing "pill screen + Smart Island" until 2025 at the earliest, while the real off-screen camera iPhone model may not be available until 2027.

Non-Pro series iPhone:

2021: bangs, LTPS

2022: bangs, LTPS

2023: pills, LTPS

2024: pills, LTPS

2025: pills, LTPO

2026: pills, LTPO

2027: off-screen Face ID + punching, LTPO

Pro series iPhone all adopt LTPO display technology:

2021: bangs

2022: pills

2023: pills