Apple's Budget iPhone X May Have Same Ultra-Bright, Low-Power LCD Technology as LG G7 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple's Budget iPhone X May Have Same Ultra-Bright, Low-Power LCD Technology as LG G7

Apple's widely rumored 6.1-inch iPhone with Face ID may use the same MLCD+ display technology as LG's new G7 ThinQ smartphone, according to a BusinessKorea report today spotted by the blog Patently Apple.

LG G7
BusinessKorea:

According to the smartphone industry on May 9, Apple is expected to load its next 6.1-inch iPhone model with an MLCD+ display which LG used in its G7 ThinQ smartphone. The MLCD+ display realizes a bright screen with less power consumption than the IPS LCD display.

Whereas a traditional LCD screen has three sub-pixels, forming a red, blue, and green stripe, MLCD+ screens have a fourth white sub-pixel for increased brightness, yet with lower power consumption than an IPS LCD panel. LG's G7 has a peak brightness of 1,000 nits, for example, compared to between 625 nits and 804 nits on the iPhone X.


Like the OLED display on the iPhone X, MLCD+ screens can also display 100 percent of the wide DCI-P3 color gamut for improved color accuracy. The panel in the G7 is capable of 10-bit color depth, so if Apple used this technology, the 6.1-inch iPhone could be more compliant with some HDR standards.

Rumors suggest the 6.1-inch iPhone will essentially be a lower-priced iPhone X, achieved through some cost-cutting design compromises, including the lack of an OLED display. Based on this report, however, it sounds like the device could still have a better display than the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.

The 6.1-inch iPhone will also have an aluminum frame rather than stainless steel, a single-lens rear camera, and may lack 3D Touch, according to former KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He predicted the device will be unveiled later this year with a starting price of between $700 and $800 in the United States.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...
Apple Foldable Thumb

iPhone Ultra's Very High Price and Features Revealed in New Report

Thursday September 3, 2026 7:33 am PDT by
Ahead of Apple's event on Wednesday, September 9, where it is expected to unveil its first-ever foldable iPhone, Taiwanese research firm TrendForce today outlined the device's estimated price range, features, and some other key details. In the U.S., TrendForce estimated that the foldable iPhone will have a starting price of $2,099 to $2,299 and said the highest-end configurations could...

Top Rated Comments

iReality85 Avatar
109 months ago
whats so much better than oled seems this is better so why not do the flagship with this?
I've never understood OLED making sense for small displays like those found in smartphones. While it's exceptional for TVs, OLED can have image retention and smartphone OSes tend to have very static UIs and app icons. OLED is also less bright than LED-LCD (at the moment), and you want as much brightness as you can get for things like phones and tablets which people use outside in broad daylight.

OLED used to have the color gamut advantage, but with quantum dots and other workarounds, LCD can now output the same size gamut (DCI-P3). About the only thing which OLED trumps LCD is black levels, which for a phone isn't really a big deal IMO.

EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not hating on OLED. I love OLED, and I own an LG C7 TV which is absolutely amazing. OLED is an incredible technology. It's just not suited for certain devices and use cases IMO. For phones at this current time, I'd rather have a non-OLED screen.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
No thanks.

Not clear from the article but it looks like the white subpixel replaces a coloured pixel. This results in a duller colour, as anyone with an LG RGBW television knows.

LG is known for hyping their 'energy saving' white subpixel panels but in reality they struggle to display colour and contrast properly.

Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PeLaNo Avatar
109 months ago
SOunds like a winning technology. I really don’t like the OLED displays.
So excited about this.
The real winner is microLED (can display as black as OLED and no burn in issue)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
109 months ago
Could not give a damn about OLED so I am fine with that :D I am probably one of the few who do not like those „tint..ish oilfilm“ looking OLED screens at all
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
109 months ago
I would not want to go back to a single lens rear camera, though. Have used the 2X camera on my X more than I expected.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pete2106 Avatar
109 months ago
I'll happily forgo an OLED screen and a stainless steel band if it makes the phone more affordable. I've been looking to upgrade my 6 Plus for a while now but couldn't justify the obscene price tag of the X.

I would be surprised at it only having one camera though. Don't they need two cameras to do all the AR depth perception? I would have thought that since Apple are going all in on AR, all phones going forward would have two cameras. Unless I'm wrong, maybe it does only need the one camera.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)