According to a Weibo leaker, Apple is waiting on Samsung to finish an OLED panel that folds down over all four edges of a phone and becomes its sides. MacRumors reports the claim comes from Instant Digital, a single unconfirmed source, and neither company has said anything about it.
According to the leaker, Samsung internally calls the technology a “full-surround, full-screen display”. It isn’t a curved “waterfall screen”. The main area stays flat, while the panel bends sharply downward, at close to 90 degrees, on all four edges and corners. Those folded sections would replace the usual metal or plastic frame, and the wiring normally hidden behind the bezels could move to the edges. From the front, the black border would shrink to almost nothing.
The design could also allow an iPhone without conventional mechanical buttons, the leaker says, though the claim comes with no detail on how the controls would work.
The hurdles
Per the leaker, Samsung hasn’t finished the technology, and Apple is holding until it does. Three problems are named:
- Optical distortion and colour shifts around the corners.
- Keeping the OLED’s protective encapsulation intact through such tight bends.
- Finding places for antennas when every side is covered by display.
The antenna point is the awkward one. Current iPhones rely on splits in the frame for their antennas, and a phone whose sides are screen has no frame to split.
Not the 2027 iPhone
The wraparound panel differs from the “four-sided quad-curved display” rumoured for Apple’s 20th-anniversary iPhone, expected in 2027. That design is a milder step. Instant Digital suggests the anniversary model could serve as an intermediate step towards the more ambitious 90-degree design, so the full version, if it arrives, would come later.
For now, treat it as a supply-chain rumour. No timeline has been given, and the listed engineering problems are unresolved by the leaker’s own account.
Is this the display on the 2027 iPhone?
Not per the leak. The 2027 anniversary model is tied to a quad-curved panel, which is a less extreme design than the 90-degree wraparound described here.
Has Apple or Samsung confirmed it?
No. The claim rests on one Weibo leaker, and neither company has commented.
Would the iPhone have no buttons?
The leaker says the technology could make that possible, but gives no detail on how controls would work.
