Here’s What Apple’s Next iPhone Might Do

Apple’s iPhone and iPad could deliver some major improvements next year, analysts say.

The tech giant’s next iPhone, which could be known as the iPhone 8, will ship with bigger screen sizes, Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Christopher Hemmelgarn said in a note this week. They say the iPhone 8 will offer a 5-inch screen and iPhone 8 Plus will deliver a 5.8-inch display, according to Business Insider, which obtained a copy of the note. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus offer 4.7- and 5.5-inch screen sizes.

The larger screens would be offered if Apple decides to offer a “bezel-less design” in the iPhone 8, according to the report. Rather than stop the screen before the left and right edges, Apple is expected to offer a design that has the iPhone 8’s display spill over the sides, creating an end-to-end touch surface. On the left and right side, the iPhone 8’s screen would curve, similar to the “edges” in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

In order to deliver that feature, the iPhone 8 will need to ship with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen technology. It would be the first from Apple to offer OLED. All iPhone versions through the iPhone 7 have run on LCD technology.

“By using a plastic OLED screen, the screen can bend at the edges to allow a curved bezel-less edge,” the analysts reportedly told investors.

Their comments come after several rumors have surfaced saying Apple is working on an OLED-based curved screen. However, Apple has yet to even confirm it’s working on a new smartphone, let alone new display technology, and the analysts acknowledged that the company hasn’t yet made a final decision on the next iPhone’s screen. But evidence suggests Apple’s next iPhone will come with a big display update.

In regards to Apple’s iPad, the analysts said that the company will release new tablets in March. Like the iPhone, the new iPads are expected to come with a “bezel-less” design and offer displays that stretch from one side to another. The 9.7-inch model would become the “low-price” version and complement the higher-end 12.9-inch iPad Pro. What’s more, Apple could announce a new 10.9-inch iPad that would feature the bezel-less design.

Apple currently sells 7.9-, 9.7- and 12.9-inch versions of its iPad. Some had anticipated Apple updating the tablets this year, but the company focused instead on a new iPhone and new MacBook Pro.

There is some debate over when a bezel-less iPad might surface. Although the Barclays analysts say it’s only a matter of months, a KGI Securities analyst said in a research note recently that Apple likely wouldn’t offer OLED and thus, a curved display, in the iPad until 2018.

Apple hasn’t confirmed any of the rumors and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

Geologists discover how a tectonic plate sank

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Saint Louis University researchers report new information about conditions that can cause Earth's tectonic plates to sink.

John Encarnacion, Ph.D., professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at SLU, and Timothy Keenan, a graduate student, are experts in tectonics and hard rock geology, and use geochemistry and geochronology coupled with field observations to study tectonic plate movement.

"A plate, by definition, has a rigidity to it. It is stiff and behaves as a unit. We are on the North American Plate and so we're moving roughly westward together about an inch a year," Encarnacion said. "But when I think about what causes most plates to move, I think about a wet towel in a pool. Most plates are moving because they are sinking into Earth like a towel laid down on a pool will start to sink dragging the rest of the towel down into the water."

Plates move, on average, an inch or two a year. The fastest plate moves at about four inches a year and the slowest isn't moving much at all. Plate motions are the main cause of earthquakes, and seismologists and geologists study the details of plate motions to make more accurate predictions of their likelihood.

"Whenever scientists can show how something that is unexpected might have actually happened, it helps to paint a more accurate picture of how Earth behaves," Encarnacion said. "And a more accurate picture of large-scale Earth processes can help us better understand earthquakes and volcanoes, as well as the origin and locations of mineral deposits, many of which are the effects and products of large-scale plate motions."

Plate movement affects our lives in other ways, too: It recently was reported that Australia needs to redraw its maps due to plate motion. Australia is moving relatively quickly northwards, and so over many decades it has traveled several feet, causing GPS locations to be significantly misaligned.

Subduction, the process by which tectonic plates sink into Earth's mantle, is a fundamental tectonic process on earth, and yet the question of where and how new subduction zones form remains a matter of debate. Subduction is the main reason tectonic plates move.

The SLU geologists' research takes them out into the field to study rocks and sample them before taking them back to the lab to be studied in more detail.

Their work involves geological mapping: looking at rocks, identifying them, plotting them on a map and figuring out how they formed and what has happened to them after they form. Researchers date rock samples and look at their chemistry to learn about the specific conditions where an ancient rock formed, such as if a volcanic rock formed in a volcanic island like Hawaii or on the deep ocean floor.

In this study, Keenan and Encarnacion traveled to the Philippines to study plates in that region. They found that a divergent plate boundary, where two plates move apart, was forcefully and rapidly turned into a convergent boundary where one plate eventually began subducting.

This is surprising because although the plate material at a divergent boundary is weak, it is also buoyant and resists subduction. The research findings suggest that buoyant but weak plate material at a divergent boundary can be forced to converge until eventually older and denser plate material enters the nascent subduction zone, which then becomes self-sustaining.

"We think that the subduction zone we studied was actually forced to start because of the collision of India with Asia. India was once separated from Asia, but it slowly drifted northwards eventually colliding with Asia. The collision pushed out large chunks of Asia to the southeast. That push, we think, pushed all the way out into the ocean and triggered the start of a new subduction zone."

Their finding supports a new model for how plates can begin to sink: "Places where plates move apart can be pushed together to start subduction."

The SLU researchers now want to learn if their model applies to other tectonic plates.

"How common was this forced initiation of a subduction zone that we think happened in the Philippines?" Encarnacion said. "I would like to see work on other ancient subduction zones to see whether our model applies to them as well."

Other researchers on the study include Robert Buchwaldt, Dan Fernandez, James Mattinson, Christine Rasoazanamparany, and P. Benjamin Luetkemeyer.

Saint Louis University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, combines strong classroom and field-based instruction with internationally recognized research across a broad spectrum of the physical sciences, including seismology, hydrology, geochemistry, meteorology, environmental science, and the study of modern and ancient climate change. Students also have the opportunity to work directly with faculty on their research and pursue internships through a growing network of contacts in the public and private sector.

Research centers include the Earthquake Center, the Cooperative Institute for Precipitation Systems, the Global Geodynamics Program, the Center for Environmental Sciences, and Quantum WeatherTM. The fusion of academic programs with world-class research provides students with an unparalleled opportunity to explore their interests and prepare for a wide variety of careers after graduation.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by Saint Louis University Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Timothy E. Keenan, John Encarnación, Robert Buchwaldt, Dan Fernandez, James Mattinson, Christine Rasoazanamparany, P. Benjamin Luetkemeyer. Rapid conversion of an oceanic spreading center to a subduction zone inferred from high-precision geochronology. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016; 201609999 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1609999113