AP Images
This phone will be Apple's flagship.
The touchscreen on the high-end smartphone will be 5.1 or 5.2-inches, and the rest of the glass screen will wrap around the edges of the phone, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
This OLED iPhone will have a "new look" with a virtual home button embedded into the screen, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
iPhone 7S?
Apple will also launch two new iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays, which will be iterative successors to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, says KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a research note seen by 9to5Mac and Bloomberg.
This lines up with other rumors that Apple will launch three new iPhone models in 2017.
The biggest change to the two lower-end iPhones is that they will use glass casing, as previously predicted by Kuo, who says the glossy glass casing is particularly popular in Asia.
It's entirely possible that these plans could change, especially if certain parts, like the new OLED screens, become scarce. Apple was reportedly planning to launch three iPhones this past year but killed one model at the last minute.
A screen shortage
Bloomberg separately reports that the major OLED suppliers, including Samsung, LG, Sharp, and Japan Display, are having trouble making enough OLED displays, and also having trouble with yield, which means that they are making a high percentage of units that are not up to standards.
In 2017, the OLED screens for the new iPhone will be produced exclusively by Samsung, Bloomberg reported. Apple reportedly has ordered 100 million screens over the course of a year, but Samsung may have trouble delivering enough for the 2017 holiday season.
Earlier this month, a top Foxconn and Sharp exec talked about upcoming iPhones and OLED screens in a commencement speech in Taiwan.
"We don't know whether Apple's OLED iPhones will be a hit, but if Apple doesn't walk down this path and transform itself, there will be no innovation. It is a crisis but it is also an opportunity," he said.