Apple is working on a holographic 'Spatial iPhone'

Apple is reportedly developing an iPhone with a holographic display, internally referred to in the supply chain as the Spatial iPhone, according to MacRumors, citing leaker Schrödinger and sources familiar with the project.

Samsung is said to be building the display for the device under the codenames MH1 and H1. The screen would combine eye-tracking with a diffractive light-control system, directing the image at specific angles to create a glasses-free 3D effect.

The panel reportedly integrates a holographic nanostructure layer directly into an AMOLED display, allowing on-screen objects to appear as if they are floating above the surface. A dedicated algorithm would let users shift the viewing angle by tilting the phone, simulating the effect of looking at an object from different sides.

In standard 2D mode, the screen would retain full 4K resolution, with the holographic layer activating only for specific content. The technology is internally called Zero Clarity Loss, since it avoids the image-quality degradation that plagued earlier lens-based 3D displays.

Schrödinger noted that the project is still in early research and development, and that mainstream holographic smartphones are unlikely to arrive before 2030. Samsung is reportedly not the only company exploring the technology, and chatter about the Spatial iPhone is already circulating among component suppliers.