Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200380916) that shows it wants to make its Mac, iPad, and iPhone display bezel-less (or at least appear that way). The patent filing is dubbed “optical system and method to mimic zero-border display.”
In the filing data, Apple notes that flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, are commonly used in a wide variety of electronic devices. These display panels typically provide a flat display in a relatively thin package. Such devices typically use less power than comparable display technologies, making them suitable for use in battery-powered devices or in other contexts where it is desirable to reduce power usage.
Electronic displays typically include a border around the display. This border may be utilized to conceal, for example, drive circuitry used to operate the display. However, Apple says that use of this border reduces the overall visible space available to display images. The tech giant is looking to implement a system that increases the overall usable space for a display by reducing the impact of borders around the display.
Here’s the summary of the patent filing: “At or near the borders of a device, pixel pitch between adjacent pixels may be increased such that overall pixel placement may be provided closer to a border of a display of a device. In one embodiment, pixel drive circuitry may be located in the spacing between adjacent pixels. Additionally, various optical systems and techniques may be utilized to provide an appearance of a lack of a border around the display such as decreasing the size of border pixels, overdriving the border pixels, or utilizing a light pipe on a surface above the border pixels.”
