Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Screens have maximised several times, but you never gain real practical real estate.
 
Or perhaps Apple makes a very thin battery the size of the iPhone's back (with cutout for the square rear camera area) that attaches seamlessly to the back of the phone recessed inside the metal frame?
I guess if anyone can come through with a design that both satisfies EU regulations and still looks good, it would be Apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mescagnus
I guess i welcome this should this rumour hold. As this is one step forward to a bazel less screen, which would work great with a full screen.
 
Bezels are already small so not a problem. Not sure how much more they can reduce.
 
I hadn't read about that legislation. That's brilliant news! A pity they don't seem to want to bring it to tablets and laptops too...
I believe the new EU legislation applies to ALL devices like cellphones, tablets and laptop computers. The result is that by 2027, we're going to have thicker cellphones, tablets and laptops because of the need to accommodate a replaceable battery subsystem.
 
I believe the new EU legislation applies to ALL devices like cellphones, tablets and laptop computers. The result is that by 2027, we're going to have thicker cellphones, tablets and laptops because of the need to accommodate a replaceable battery subsystem.
You say that like a microscopic thickness increase is a bad thing? With sensible engineering there should be no discernible difference in a laptop like a MacBook Pro, and even on a phone it could be negligible or non existent. Take away a fraction of each corner of a battery and put screw holes in, and make the various connectors a smidge fiddly than they currently are. I don't think the EU expect us to be able to just pop batteries in and out like in an old Nokia.

Next up- removable SSD's on all devices!

Keeping devices in service for longer is a brilliant thing to reduce e-waste.
 
You say that like a microscopic thickness increase is a bad thing? With sensible engineering there should be no discernible difference in a laptop like a MacBook Pro.
I have my doubts. The current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are very thin because the battery is NOT a user-replaceable, let alone user-swappable, unit. Accommodating user-replaceable batteries and still complying with international RF radiation requirements may result in thicker cellphones, tablets and laptops unless the physical battery pack is much thinner than now.
 
I have my doubts. The current MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are very thin because the battery is NOT a user-replaceable, let alone user-swappable, unit. Accommodating user-replaceable batteries and still complying with international RF radiation requirements may result in thicker cellphones, tablets and laptops unless the physical battery pack is much thinner than now.
It wouldn't even be vaguely difficult to make a MacBook Pro battery simply removable via a screws, at the same thickness... as things stand it probably saves Apple 10 cents not doing it, by using sticky tape instead, and encourages many users with worn out batteries to simply buy a new devices, which is good for Apple.

I'm not sure if we're taking at cross purposes, because I can't see any genuine challenge involved for a chunky laptop like a MacBook Pro? The only thing that would stuff things up would be the enforcement of a non-propriety type of battery? As long as Apple can design the frame the cells fit in, it's a piece of cake. Worst case scenario, Apple might have to make the battery ~2% smaller.

Edit: Unless the EU is suggesting that a 5min operation with a screwdriver is too intense for the average user? I didn't read the press release that way. I don't think they're intending that devices need to have a flick switch that pops that battery out. Just a prevention of stupidly tricky, slow, complex, glued down catastrophes that Apple have given us in the past. *cough*MacBook Glue*cough*. *cough*every screw is a fractionally different length*cough*
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: johnsawyercjs
Just like phone camera systems will never beat mirrorless or DSLRs. You simply cannot defy physics, no matter how advanced the tech. You are indeed limited to what you know. 🤣🤣🤣
I'm not arguing to defy physics, I'm saying there's likely a way to offer a great full screen display + under display camera without obstructing the lens specifically while in use. You keep going back to the one approach because you want to argue for no reason.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: boak
What macrumors fails to highlight in this korean article is that the removal of the face id camera is rumoured to be once again delayed until 2026 or 2027 due to setbacks.

Also John Ive envisioned Apple’s long term goal for the iphone a “single slab of glass”. The further reduction of bazels is a step closer to that goal.
 
Last edited:
Kinda sucks for people who need/want a case that stays on.
Cases hold onto phones mostly by wrapping around the front edge of the metal frame that protrudes from around the sides of the phone, rather than by overlapping any part of the screen. So if the screen had no bezel area at all, a case would still stay in place. And even thin, minimalist cases that are essentially nothing but a shaped sheet of aramid fiber stick out from the sides of the phone far enough to serve as a bezel replacement. Cases thicker than the minimalist type do this even better.
 
I'm mostly concerned it might be more likely to break on drops now.
The bezel being referred to here is the black border around the active, lit portion of the display, not to the glass itself, which for as long as I can remember, going back at least as far as the iPhone 4 and maybe earlier, has always gone right up to the metal band around the edges of the iPhone, and so the screen glass in all these models has the same risk of making contact with the surface they hit when dropped, regardless of the size of their black border bezel, though of course with more recent models with tougher screen glass, the chances of the glass breaking are less.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.