The iPhone Fold is the first to use a Samsung COE OLED panel: brighter and thinner.

The iPhone Fold will be the first Apple device to use Samsung’s COE OLED technology, which makes the screen brighter and thinner.

It is understood that in traditional OLED screens, a polarizer is added on top of the panel to reduce reflections and improve contrast. However, this design has a significant drawback: the polarizer absorbs some of the light emitted by the OLED screen itself, thereby reducing screen brightness and luminous efficiency.

By adopting COE technology, Apple can remove the polarizer and directly attach the filter to the encapsulation layer of the OLED screen. This allows for a thinner screen, enabling more light to pass through without increasing power consumption, achieving higher brightness, and creating the possibility for Apple to create a thinner iPhone.

The report indicates that Apple plans to first apply COE technology to the foldable iPhone Fold, and then apply it to the iPhone Air 2. However, due to the lower-than-expected sales of the original iPhone Air, the release date of the iPhone Air 2 has been postponed.

It’s worth mentioning that, not only Apple, but Samsung also plans to apply COE technology to its foldable Galaxy Z Fold series, Galaxy Z Flip series, and flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will be Samsung’s first flagship smartphone with COE technology.