The iPhone Fold will be the first Apple device to adopt a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the display brighter and thinner than previous panels, reports The Elec.
In a traditional OLED panel, a polarizing film sits above the display to cut reflections and improve contrast. The drawback is that this film also absorbs some of the OLED's own light, reducing brightness and efficiency. With CoE, Apple would remove the polarizer entirely and instead apply the color filter directly onto the OLED's protective encapsulation layer.
The result would be a thinner display stack that lets more light through, delivering higher brightness without requiring more power. Removing layers would also mean less thickness overall, potentially contributing to a slimmer iPhone design.
According to The Elec, Apple plans to debut CoE with its foldable iPhone, which could launch as soon as late 2026, before expanding the technology to the iPhone Air 2 in 2027. The latter's release has reportedly been pushed back following weaker-than-expected sales of the original iPhone Air.
Whether CoE will be applied and whether the iPhone Air 2 will be released will be decided by the third quarter of this year, according to industry sources cited by the Korean-language report.
Samsung, meanwhile, plans to apply CoE not only to its foldable Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip models, but also to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, expected in the first quarter of this year. The S26 Ultra will be Samsung's first non-foldable smartphone to use the technology, which the company refers to internally as OCF (On-Cell Film).
