iPhone 16 OLED Panels May Use Micro-Lens Technology to Increase Brightness/Power Efficiency

Apple is weighing up the use of micro-lens technology to maintain or increase the brightness of OLED displays on next year's iPhone 16 models while potentially reducing their power consumption, reports The Elec.

iPhone 14 Pro Display Two Times Brighter Feature
According to the Korean outlet, Apple display suppliers Samsung and LG have offered to apply micro-lens arrays (MLA) to the OLED panels, but the technology has both pros and cons that Apple needs to consider.

MLA works by using a uniform pattern of billions of lenses inside the panel that reduces internal reflections. These lenses turn the path of light reflected backwards from the inside of the panel towards the screen, which can serve either to increase perceived brightness while maintaining the same level of power consumption, or maintain brightness levels while consuming less power compared to conventional OLED panels at the same luminance.

However, while MLA straightens the path of light to increase frontal luminance, in some use cases it can also reduce side luminance, which from a user perspective narrows the display's field of view. Not only that, applying MLA to the OLED panels would increase the manufacturing cost.

Another complicating factor is that the material sets being developed by the two suppliers are different, and both are still said to fall short of Apple's standards. Apple has yet to give a final response to the MLA application proposal from the Korean companies, according to the report.

Apple's decision appears to hinge on whether the efficiency of the OLED material set can be improved upon between now and when ‌iPhone 16‌ mass production begins in the second half of 2024.

If the amount of light sent to the front of the panel can be at least maintained at a reduced power consumption rate while avoiding a narrowing of the viewing angle, then MLA implementation may be considered worthwhile. However, this depends on the performance of the OLED material set, and the sets of the two domestic panel companies are said to be different.

Samsung has more experience applying MLA to OLED panels. For example, it has used the technology in some of its own Galaxy S Ultra models, and has also delivered MLA-applied OLED panels to Chinese mobile vendors such as Vivo. LG meanwhile has applied MLA to some of its larger OLED smart TVs, but has little to no experience of applying it to small and medium-sized panels, where the direction of light is adjusted differently.

Looking further ahead, a separate report in May claimed that Apple intends to mass produce more advanced microLED displays in order to lessen its reliance on Samsung and increase its own control over supply, laying the groundwork to realize its ultimate goal of bringing the next-generation technology to iPhones.

Related Roundups: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
24 months ago
iPhone 16 is starting to look like a bigger upgrade. The best iPhone Apple has ever worked on? ?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andreiru Avatar
24 months ago
We need a breakthrough in the battery department. :-)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Makosuke Avatar
24 months ago
I'm not sure whether I'd actually want it or not, but to at least some people (those averse to "eavesdropping") a narrower viewing angle would actually be a plus not a minus.


Sure nobody forces an upgrade, but the smartphone business is still one with yearly iterations, unlike other tech that have a longer shelflife than a year.
Cars are about the longest-lived consumer good in the United States, and even the most regular upgraders probably buy on a 3-year lease, but they're iterated yearly. Very slightly in most cases, but every car on the market has a model year specified because of it.

Nobody in their right mind upgrades their TV every year, and most people buy one and use it for half a decade at minimum, but they're iterated yearly.

Washing machines aren't iterated every year, but that technology is basically static at this point. Phones might get there eventually, but we're a long way from that.

Manufacturers upgrade every year if the technology improves, most people will buy and use something for as long as the generation of tech they bought works and it doesn't break (I know someone still using an iPhone 6s, because he doesn't care about any of the new features) and it makes sense even from a longevity standpoint.

Think of it this way:

Let's assume that at the current rate of technological improvement most people will want to upgrade a phone when the hardware is 5 years old, and in any case because of the fundamental wear-and-tear a phone isn't likely to last more than 7 years. And let's pretend that the smartphone industry does what you seem to want and only upgrades phones every 5 years, when there's actually a big difference.

If you buy a new phone right after the old model comes out, you use it for 5 years, then get the new one. Exactly the same outcome as if there were annual iterations.

But if you happen to need a new phone when the current model is 4 years in, you just bought a phone with 4-year-old technology, and by the time it's time to buy a new one you now have a 9-year-old phone--you were stuck with an iPhone 6 instead of an Xs. You'll likely upgrade sooner instead of waiting 5 years because of the clunker you got stuck with. The same goes for everyone who buys a phone in the off-years, just to discourage the small number of aggressive updaters. If, on the other hand, there were incremental upgrades during that time, then your 5-year-old phone still has 5-year-old technology, regardless of when you happen to buy it.

Even in the case of people who do aggressively upgrade every year, it's not like their old phones go in the trash--T-Mobile is not in the business of giving you an $800 trade-in credit on a perfectly-good, 1-year-old phone that they're throwing away. Or if you sell it on the open market, the person you sell it to for $600 isn't spending that so they can throw it away next year.

The majority of old phones will stay in use as long as they have resale value, which is quite some time, and even when they don't a lot of the time they'll get handed down to someone.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ultracyclist Avatar
24 months ago
Here come the ooh‘s and aah’s but wait until you see the iPhone 17!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
w_aldo Avatar
24 months ago

I'm just tired about...

[1] Yearly iteration so more ewaste is produced...
[2] That there is still not a focus about longevity despite everything going bottoms up...

Sure nobody forces an upgrade, but the smartphone business is still one with yearly iterations, unlike other tech that have a longer shelflife than a year.
Since when do iPhones only have a shelflife of a year? They get updates for at least 5. There is absolutely 0 reason to upgrade every year, or even every 2 years for that matter. It may sound controversial but the people who upgrade every year clearly have a problem with FOMO which they need to control, an addiction to the the "latest and greatest".

I'm upgrading to the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year, from an XS Max which I've had for 5 years. The phone was built to last.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bLackjackj Avatar
24 months ago

Sure nobody forces an upgrade, but the smartphone business is still one with yearly iterations, unlike other tech that have a longer shelflife than a year.
What other major manufacturer doesn't release a yearly upgrade? TVs, laptops, computers,..hell even fridges get a yearly update. It doesn't mean that YOU HAVE to buy one.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)