Next iPhone Rumored to Carry Glasses-free 3D Display

Taiwanese media website Economic Daily News [Google Translate] (via GforGames) is reporting that Apple may be gearing up to introduce a glasses-free 3D display on next year's iPhone. The site also reports that Apple is aiming to create a 3D "hardware and software ecosystem."

Economic Daily News also mentions that this "naked eye 3D screen" could not be built using the current embedded touch technology Apple has used since the launch of the iPhone 5. The site claims Apple would once again seek the help of touch screen manufacturer TPK to assist in the development of the next generation of iPhone.

iphone6plus
This all comes on the heels of the Taiwanese site claiming Apple has plans to discontinue the iPad mini in favor of the upcoming release of the still-rumored iPad Pro. Though the validity of that rumor is still in question, Economic Daily News has had some hits (regarding Apple Watch sizes and release dates) and misses (claiming the iPhone 6 Plus would ditch the "iPhone" brand), making it difficult to assess the latest claim's reliability.

Though the story is still firmly speculative, Apple has shown interest in 3D devices for many years now. The company applied for a patent regarding glasses-free 3D stereoscopic displays over six years ago. The proposed system was intended to solve issues found in previous incarnations of the technology, allowing tracking of the user to ensure proper 3D rendering no matter the location.

Apple later applied for a patent regarding 3D "Hyper Reality" displays that proposed to change the perspective of objects on a screen in relation to the movement of the user's head, combining software and hardware to achieve the effect. The 3D technology that Apple has employed, of course, is the parallax feature that gives depth and 3D effects to iOS as the device is moved.

More comprehensive implementations of 3D display technology such as that rumored for the next iPhone have seen a limited amount of interest from smartphone manufacturers, but none have so far seen significant success. Given apparent tepid consumer interest in the technology and a lack of other recent rumors regarding any plans by Apple to pursue it, today's claims should be considered questionable for the time being.

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro
Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forums: Apple Vision Pro, iPhone

Top Rated Comments

troop231 Avatar
124 months ago
Tim Cook's response to this rumor:
Score: 79 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
124 months ago
I'm trying hard to think of the benefits of having 3D tech on my iPhone and none come to mind.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luckydcxx Avatar
124 months ago
Didn't Amazon already fail with this?
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrbyu Avatar
124 months ago
But will it have 2 gigs of RAM? (sarcasm)
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
squan Avatar
124 months ago
I always wanted to know how my icons look like from the side.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bronken Avatar
124 months ago
Didn't Amazon already fail with this?

"you don't have to be the first one to do it, you just have to do it right"
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...