C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
🍞 Good morning! Let’s get that bread.
Apple goes for e-ink?
Here’s a report I’m wary of: Apple could be testing color e-ink displays for foldables. On the outside display, anyway.
- My reservations aren’t about what Apple could be doing.
- And the source, TF International Securities analyst and go-to Apple watcher, Ming-Chi Kuo, is about as good as it gets when it comes to making predictions about what Apple is working on.
- But Apple is likely testing many things: A company of its size and scope is undoubtedly working on all kinds of interesting hardware and software.
- And the report specifies it’s for foldables, something Apple hasn’t yet shown any indication of working on, and something it’s watching Samsung win at, without seeing the need to step in yet.
So with all that in mind… here’s the tweet:
- “Apple is testing E Ink’s Electronic Paper Display (EPD) for future foldable devices’ cover screen & tablet-like applications. The color EPD has the potential to become a mainstream solution for foldable devices’ must-have cover/second screen thanks to its excellent power-saving.”
- (A second tweet clarified that the display is made by a company called E Ink.)
- E Ink has been working on its display tech for years: Its latest is called E Ink Gallery 3 and the associatedvideos shown as promotional teasers have the display rolling and folding. There’s also a longer video as part of a booth setup at a conference.
- It’s nothing like an OLED display you’ll find on the outside of the various Samsung foldables or the Oppo Find N and so on.
- It does look decent and obviously consumes a lot less power, with a slow refresh rate.
- Other color E Ink devices have been around for a while: the Hisense A7CC is just one.
- And, any company worth their salt should be “testing” the display for foldables and tablet-like applications.
- So what this means isn’t that Apple is set to release a foldable with E Ink tech. It might. It might not! Apple should and very well likely is testing all kinds of interesting technologies that may or may not be ready for prime time.
Last point:
- Should Apple use E Ink in any device, expect Android makers to do the same, and rapidly.
Roundup
📨 Personal G Suite users can fully retain custom domain and services without cost, but you’ll need to tell Google you’re in (Android Authority).
🐤 Here’s how it’s going with Elon Musk and Twitter: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal explained Twitter blocks half a million spam accounts a day, and that surveilling the userbase on Twitter really needs internal tools to be accurate. Musk responded with “💩” (Vice). (Most of this can be summarized as: Elon has buyer’s remorse.)
🚀 The private space industry in China isn’t going too well? iSpace just failed for a third consecutive time (Spacenews). Next up is Galactic Energy, launching around July.
🌔 Australian researchers show solar power can be generated at night. Sounds great but it’s tiny in terms of comparable energy, and not really about light but heat: warm Earth vs cold night sky (ABC).
Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.
