Apple rumoured to be joining smartphone display size race

If rumours are to be believed, smartphone giant Apple is coming up with a 5.8-inch iPhone that will feature a tough AMOLED display panel and may launch it in 2018 or even earlier in 2017, media reports said.

The AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display is thinner and more power-efficient display as compared to current LCD screen and has more depth in colours and clarity.

According to a pre-publication report in DigiTimes as cited by Motley Fool, the company may move as many as 50 million devices in their first year of availability.

DigiTimes is a China-based daily newspaper and The Motley Fool is a US-based multimedia financial-services company.

Apple is reportedly planning to release two variants of its large-screen iPhone 7 Plus this year -- one with a single-lens camera and one with a dual-lens camera. The dual-lens variant has been rumoured to be marketed as the iPhone Pro.

"Although it doesn't appear that the initial iPhone Pro will come equipped with an AMOLED display, particularly if it launches alongside the iPhone 7/7 Plus this fall, it could make a lot of sense for a second-generation iPhone Pro -- which could launch in the fall of 2017 -- to come equipped with such a display," the report in Motley Fool said on Tuesday.

Apple currently sells iPhones in screen sizes of 4, 4.7 and 5.5 inches with the iPhone 6S Plus being the largest handset in that class.

Possible suppliers of the AMOLED screen include Samsung Display, LG Display (LPL) and Japan Display.

Apple is also rumoured to come up with iPhone 5SE at an event on March 21.