Apple Will Reportedly Launch Three OLED iPhones in 2020 Including Smaller 5.42-inch Model With Thinner Display

Apple plans to launch a trio of OLED iPhones next year that includes smaller and larger-sized models than the current crop of Apple's flagship smartphones, according to sources from Taiwan's supply chain.

iphone xs vs xr
DigiTimes reports this morning that Apple will release three OLED iPhones in 2020 available in 5.42-, 6.06- and 6.67-inch sizes.

Meanwhile DigiTimes' sources indicate that, as expected, this year's three models will follow the screen technologies and sizes of 2018 iPhones; namely, two OLED models with 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch screens, and a 6.1-inch LCD model.

In a noteworthy tidbit coming out Taiwan's handset component supply chain, the smallest iPhone model coming in 2020 will reportedly include Samsung or LG touchscreen tech that will allow Apple to make the display of the phone thinner than on previous handsets.

Additionally, the 5.42-inch model to be released in 2020 may come with either Samsung Display's Y-Octa or LG Display's TOE touch technology, indicated the sources, noting that both touch solutions promises to trim down the display cost.

Y-Octa is an advanced flexible AMOLED display technology that removes the film substrate and allows the touch circuit to be directly patterned on the film's encapsulation layer, making the display thinner, indicated the sources.

According to ‌DigiTimes‌' sources, Samsung will maintain its dominance as the main OLED panel supplier for Apple next year, while it remains to be seen whether LG or BOE Technology can gain OLED panel orders from the company.

The same supply chain sources estimate that Apple will ship between 80 and 82 million iPhones in the first half of this year and around 180-190 million units for all of 2019.

Previous rumors suggest 2020 iPhones will feature triple-lens rear camera arrangements, improved photo capturing tools, and more powerful processors. Bloomberg has suggested it could be a prelude to an AR headset, and past rumors have indicated Apple could launch that device as early as 2020.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Dark Blue and Orange

iPhone 17 Release Date, Pre-Orders, and What to Expect

Thursday August 28, 2025 4:08 am PDT by
An iPhone 17 announcement is a dead cert for September 2025 – Apple has already sent out invites for an "Awe dropping" event on Tuesday, September 9 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. The timing follows Apple's trend of introducing new iPhone models annually in the fall. At the event, Apple is expected to unveil its new-generation iPhone 17, an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17...
iPhone 17 Pro Iridescent Feature 2

iPhone 17 Pro Clear Case Leak Reveals Three Key Changes

Sunday August 31, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series on Tuesday, September 9, and last-minute rumors about the devices continue to surface. The latest info comes from a leaker known as Majin Bu, who has shared alleged images of Apple's Clear Case for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, or at least replicas. Image Credit: @MajinBuOfficial The images show three alleged changes compared to Apple's iP...
xiaomi apple ad india

Apple and Samsung Push Back Against Xiaomi's Bold India Ads

Friday August 29, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple and Samsung have reportedly issued cease-and-desist notices to Xiaomi in India for an ad campaign that directly compares the rivals' devices to Xiaomi's products. The two companies have threatened the Chinese vendor with legal action, calling the ads "disparaging." Ads have appeared in local print media and on social media that take pot shots at the competitors' premium offerings. One...
iOS 18 on iPhone Arrow Down

Apple Preparing iOS 18.7 for iPhones as iOS 26 Release Date Nears

Sunday August 31, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 18.7 for compatible iPhone models, according to evidence of the update in the MacRumors visitor logs. We expect iOS 18.7 to be released in September, alongside iOS 26. The update will likely include fixes for security vulnerabilities, but little else. iOS 18.7 will be one of the final updates ever released for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR,...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

iPhone 17 Pro: 5 Reasons Not to Upgrade This Year

Monday September 1, 2025 4:35 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series this month, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming to...

Top Rated Comments

ondert Avatar
84 months ago
iPhone SE X?
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacFather Avatar
84 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fokmik Avatar
84 months ago
Who th **** will trust Digitimes again after they said 2 times that airpower mass production started and its comin late March ?!?!?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0Jannik0 Avatar
84 months ago
Okay, so while these display sizes might seem weird at first, I think it might all make sense. I did some thinking, math and photoshop.

(1) Let's look at the two larger sizes first, 6.06" and 6.67". These seem strange at first, but only because they're accurate to two decimal digits. While Apple uses 5.8" and 6.5" in their marketing for the Xs and Xs Max, these actually have screen diagonals of 5.85" and 6.46". Comparing this to the rumored sizes, this corresponds to additional 0.21" in each case. So I pretty sure these two devices correspond to the Xs and Xs Max 2020 versions, so

Xs 2018 with 5.85" -> Xs 2020 with 6.06" (probably 6" screen diagonal in marketing)
Xs Max 2018 with 6.46" -> Xs Max 2020 with 6.67" (probably 6.7" screen diagonal in marketing)

(2) How exactly could these devices look like? Okay, so assuming the display ratio stays at 19.5:9 as it is currently, then using the new screen diagonals and Pythagoras this corresponds to a 3.59% increase in screen width and height for the Xs and a 3.25% increase for the Xs Max. Suppose the devices stay roughly the same size, specifically we keep the device height exactly the same and just scale the screen size accordingly to the new numbers. Then we get this (rough) mockup:

MacRumors content image

So the new screen sizes would correspond to pretty much the exact same device size but with pretty much zero bezels!

(3) Lastly, what's up the small version with 5.42" ? Again doing some math and assuming a display ratio of 19.5:9 this corresponds to a 127mm screen height, compared to a screen height of 142mm for the 6.06" device in a 144mm height case. Assuming the same (super thin) bezel of 2mm, this would indicate a device with height 129mm. A little bit larger than the SE with a height of 124mm. So this seems to be a new SE size device with OLED screen and thin bezels.

Conclusion: It seems there is a major redesign in the pipeline for the 2020 iPhone lineup. This fits to rumors from 2017/2018 of a slowed down upgrade cycle with major redesigns every 3 years instead of every 2 years. So my assumption is we will see a similar lineup to Xs, Xr and Xs Max in 2019. In 2020 the "cheap" LCD option will be dropped and we will see three OLED devices.

Small: Roughly SE size device with 5.42" OLED screen (5.4" screen in marketing)
Medium: Roughly XS size device with 6.06 OLED screen (6" screen in marketing)
Large: Roughly XS Max size device with 6.67 OLED screen (6.7" screen in marketing)

All three with ultra thin bezels and I guess we could possibly see a smaller notch and maybe an iPad Pro style redesign.

Happy to hear any thoughts to this.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G3Blue Avatar
84 months ago
Goodbye to Apple from me if new iPhones are oled only
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Superhappytree Avatar
84 months ago
Hopefully these weird screen sizes means the notch will be gone and will instead be filled with screen.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)