Instead of Shaving Millimeters, Apple could use Space Saved by In-Cell Touch Panels to Pack a Larger Battery in the new iPhone

When talk began about the in-cell touch panels that are rumored for the next iPhone, it was easy to assume that Apple would relish the savings in space and design a thinner device. After all, there now exist Android devices that are thinner than the iPhone 4, and that just won’t do, right?

Well, maybe, but now a great point is being made about how in-cell touch panels and liquid metal backing could actually make room for a completely different improvement: battery size. We’ve already seen the pattern played out once with the design of the new iPad—instead of going thinner and lighter as has been the trend, Apple planted a much larger battery in the device, in part to make up for the greater consumption that results from using 4G LTE.

So who knows, maybe a 7.90 mm iPhone isn’t what’s next. It certainly seems unlike Apple to release a 4G-capable handset that gets less battery life than its predecessor, and unless they’re going to stun with some unheard of piece of tech, matching the battery life of the iPhone 4S is going to mean a bigger battery. We’re not saying the next iPhone will be thicker? But the same?—maybe.

Where do you fall on this debate? Does Apple value the physical size of the next iPhone over its actual performance, or was all that talk about a thinner device a bit short-sighted?

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

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