Barclays: 2017 iPhones will have True Tone display

According to research note from Barclays, obtained by MacRumors, all three iPhone models this year will adopt True Tone technology that’s currently available only on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The research notes states that both Apple’s rumored all-new iPhone 8 model with an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display and the iterative LCD-based iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus will each include a “full spectral sensing” ambient light sensor to support a “True Color” screen.

The sensors are expected to be supplied by Austrian semiconductor manufacturer AMS.

Here’s an excerpt from the note, compiled by Barclays analysts Andrew Gardiner, Hiral Patel, Joseph Wolf, Blayne Curtis and Mark Moskowitz:

For the expected iPhone 7S models, as well as the iPhone 8, we think ams’s content increases due to the inclusion of its full spectral sensing ambient light sensor, as already seen in the iPad Pro for that device’s True Color screen functionality. We estimate this to be a material step-up in content from the $0.60 range to $1.00.

True Tone is all about achieving better contrast for reading.

To combat situations when display contrast decreases as the light around you gets brighter, and vice versa, True Tone technology on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses four-channel ambient light sensors to automatically adapt the color and intensity of the display to match the light in its environment.

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro does not have a True Tone display, but its successor should adopt the technology. Apple says the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s screen offers 25 percent greater color saturation and deeper blacks than that found on iPad Air 2. iPhone 7 has adopted a wide color gamut display from iPad Pro, but not the True Tone technology.

DisplayMate speculated that an iPhone with a True Tone display would improve screen performance and readability in high ambient light. “True Tone could be added if Apple upgrades the ambient light sensors so they measure color in addition to brightness,” said DisplayMate.

Source: MacRumors