iPhone Fold to Pave Way for Thinner, Brighter Display on iPhone Air 2

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.

iphone fold text
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).

Related Roundup: iPhone Air
Buyer's Guide: iPhone Air (Buy Now)

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Top Rated Comments

Nibo10 Avatar
3 weeks ago
I’ve read a lot of the criticism in this thread, and I get where it’s coming from. One camera. One speaker. USB-C speeds that are stuck in the past. The price, especially in comparison to other models. None of that is wrong.

But as someone who actually owns the Air, I genuinely love it, and my experience has been very different from how it’s often discussed here and in other forums.

Yes, it has one camera. I don’t shoot multiple lenses’ worth of photos every day. Yes, it has one speaker. I rarely listen to audio without AirPods and it’s fine in a room when watching a YouTube video for example. Yes, data transfer speeds could be better. I almost never move large files over a cable. These are all technically valid compromises, they just aren’t compromises I feel in my personal daily use.

What I do feel, constantly, is the physical experience of the device. The weight. The balance. The thinness. Holding your phone is something you do dozens, maybe hundreds, of times a day. For me, that matters more than specs I interact with occasionally and I’m saying all that while coming from the pro phone which I update yearly.

I scaled back this year on purpose as I wanted to hold something different and have been ranting about the pro’s weight for years. I absolutely love how focused this phone is. I haven’t felt once like I gave something up. It’s an object that feels genuinely good to use and want to hold way more than any iPhone previously.

Would I buy a next-gen Air that improves the camera, speakers, and USB-C speeds? In a heartbeat. But that doesn’t make my current experience any less satisfying.

I’m not trying to convince anyone who already knows they want the Pro features. Or the standard iPhone which is the better deal this year. That’s fine. All I’m saying that valuing how a device feels in your hand is fine too and quite frankly, the Air deserves more credit than it gets here.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bluespark Avatar
3 weeks ago

Hopefully the thinner display allows Apple to put a better quality camera in the iPhone Air going forward as that was one of the main reasons for the disappointing sales for the Air
The Air camera is great. Did you instead mean a second camera for the Air?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Onelifenofear Avatar
3 weeks ago

Given the Air’s apparently stellar sales performance, I assume Apple’s R&D team will be working overtime to change absolutely nothing. A year or two of quietly trying to recoup tooling costs, then the Air will either be mercy killed, rebranded as something “revolutionary” or magically reinvented as a foldable.
The main problem is the Pricing

iPhone $799
Air $999 << Why would I buy this With one camera the cheaper one has 2!
Pro $1099 >> I'll buy this it has 3 cameras and a better battery and it's only 100 more.
Pro Max $1199


iPhone $699 - Make even more basic.
Air $849 < Would have Sold shed loads.
Pro $1099
Pro Max $1199

The main problem with all iphones is the damn camera rings. I've rather have a bigger overall bump and flush lenses.

The air should have been a wedge shape like the actual MacBooK Air. Makes it substantially different to the others and therefore more desirable - And we all saw the comparison to the iphone 6



Attachment Image
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Slash787 Avatar
3 weeks ago
Just release a new Mini !
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macbookj0e Avatar
3 weeks ago
Absolutely love my air but to improve sales they just need to make it cheaper. The value proposition v’s the 17 isn’t good as that’s such a solid phone.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orev Avatar
3 weeks ago

I predict a flop just like the Air. People want battery life not thinness. Also, what is the point of larger screen real estate if the OS can’t make maximum use of it. We absolutely need pro-level multitasking — something much closer to OS X.
I'm tired of every phone getting slightly thicker because of the people who whinge about battery life. Current iPhone battery life is just fine for the vast majority of people. We don't need a super thin phone, but we also don't need huge bricks because some people are so addicted to social media that they can't put their phones down. Those people can buy MagSafe battery packs so the rest of us can have reasonably-sized phones.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)