In many cases, a new iteration for an existing family of devices brings new features and benefits to customers. The 2016 flagship may offer a faster processor, a brighter, bigger, more colorful display, a better camera and more sensors. And quite often, the manufacturer has attempted to reduce the thickness of the smartphone even further. This trend is seen as one reason why most 2016 smartphones appear to still be designed around providing typical customers with one typical day of battery power. Things have taken a new turn as this year, we have seen a number of manufacturers dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack such as LeEco and Lenovo / Motorola, with rumors that Apple will drop the standard from the next iPhone. Samsung, of course, are not immune from following trends and today a new rumor is emerging that the business has developed a new type of screen technology that will allow it to manufacture a thinner, lighter screen. This in part will help the company manufacturer a thinner Note 7, although with the Galaxy S7 Samsung decided not to pursue the “thinner is always better” idea and instead gave the device a larger and thicker battery.
The new technology is called Y-OCTA and is a technique of integrating the touch sensitive part of the screen into the unit at the point of assembly, rather than adding the touch sensitive layer afterwards. Current displays as used in Samsung devices work by applying a film-touch layer into the panel. However, Y-OCTA avoids this process and could reduce production costs. The new Y-OCTA display technology has already been linked with the next generation Samsung Galaxy Note, due to be announced in early August. It’s not clear if Y-OCTA technology is a successor to the Wacom digitizer units that allow the Galaxy Note to be compatible with the S-Pen, as we’ve also seen that Samsung could introduce Y-OCTA display technology into later versions of the successful Samsung Galaxy S7 flagship device: although the Wacom digitizer does not require the S-Pen to be operated so it is not inconceivable that Samsung could use similar technology in the Galaxy S7 but without the S-Pen software.
According to reports, Samsung Display was unwilling to discuss the technologies that they or partner businesses use – not that it is surprising as most businesses are not keen on revealing technological changes or improvements ahead of time. However, with Galaxy Note 7 announcement a matter of weeks away, there is not too much time to consider how Samsung may have further refined the Note’s design. It will be interesting to see if and how the Y-OCTA technology integrates with the new flagship device and if the company does, indeed, roll out Y-OCTA to the Galaxy S7.