Apple may be working on a product that uses flexible glass displays, as evidenced by a job listing that temporarily appeared on the company's site. The listing, seen by several sites and screengrabbed by 9to5Mac before its removal, showed Apple searching for a senior optical engineer to work in the Santa Clara Valley, further fueling rumors that Apple is planning to launch a wearable device that would make use of curved glass—like an "iWatch."
Apple said it's looking for someone to "lead the investigation on emerging display technologies such as high optical efficiency LCD, AMOLED, and flexible display to improve overall display optical performance." The key qualifications included in-depth understanding of optical design, viewing angles, color management, and other elements so the candidate could "[a]nalyze the trade-offs between design, process, optical performance, and implementation feasibility" of such displays.
Aside from the iWatch, it has also been rumored that Apple might include curved glass on a future version of the iPhone thanks to a recently published patent application. The application, published last month by the USPTO, described a device that makes use of a flexible display assembly with transparent housing; the attached drawings show examples of different shapes, though some are less likely to show up in an iPhone than others.
Neither patent applications nor job listings automatically translate to immediate product launches. Apple could very well be putting more manpower into researching flexible glass and other display technology before deciding whether to move forward with it in a consumer-facing product. Whatever the case, the now-removed listing at least hints at where Apple's attention is focused at the moment. But let's enter our fantasy worlds right now: if Apple were planning to put flexible/curved displays into its products, where would you most like to see them?
reader comments
40