The front panel is directly attached to the new In Cell Touch LCD without containing an air layer in between.
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However, in-cell touch is expected to take off in 2012 as yield rates improve.
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Shipments for in-cell touch, which first came to market in 2009, didn't materialize in 2010.
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There's also been talk of Apple using a thinner, better panel that would likely use in-cell touch rather than stack the LCD and touch surfaces in separate layers.
Look what we have here, possibly in the nick of time: it's a newly granted Apple patent for a screen with in-cell touch, where the LCD and touch recognition are integrated into one panel instead of stacking up in separate layers.
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The LCD industry has been working on the in-cell touch technology for several years.
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By switching to a new display with in-cell touch sensing, Apple was expected to reduce its manufacturing expenses.
"We do believe that the next iPhone display will implement in-cell touch, " DisplaySearch's Paul Semenza told Wired via e-mail.
The iPhone 5's display uses a new technology, In-Cell Touch, that requires fewer layers than previous generations of touch displays.
But in-cell touch screens are harder to manufacture than conventional LCD screens.
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Instead of using a display comprising a number of separate layers, Apple could use in-cell touch display technology, according to a Friday report from Digitimes.
Right now, in-cell touch displays are still an emerging technology.
In-cell touch can help reduce the thickness of the display, which could make the iPhone 5 thinner than previous models, or clear out space to add other features like a larger battery that can help extend operating time.
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As envisioned, the screen looks like an ideal fit for a significant revamp of Apple's mobile display technology, although we'd be careful about assuming that this or any in-cell touch implementation is a lock for potentially imminent iOS hardware.
ENGADGET: Apple gets patent for in-cell touch display with impeccable timing
At the same time, the adoption of in-cell technology is bad news for makers of conventional touch panels used in many smartphone screens now.
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Becca Mishkin, a resident of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, doesn't have a regular landline phone, so she relied on her cell phone to keep in touch with family.
Lilliputian's engineering miracle was in designing a tiny solid-oxide fuel cell that instead of melting everything in its vicinity is merely warm to the touch.
In-cell display tech eliminates that middle layer of glass, combining the LCD and touch sections of the display into a single layer.
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