Having recycled the wide notch since 2017, Apple is finally preparing to redesign the iPhone. This year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max and 14 Pro models will ditch the notch in favor of an unusual mix of two floating cutouts in the display. Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, published a detailed report on these design tweaks.
Apple will split the notch into two holes in the display — one pill-shaped cutout for the FaceID apparatus and the other a punch-hole for the front camera. This year, the so-called ‘pill+hole’ design will be exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro. But the entire iPhone 15 lineup will adopt the new look in 2023.
That’s not all, however. Apple also plans to streamline the strange ‘pill+hole’ in the coming years. The Face ID sensors will be moved below the screen. Under-display cameras are on the cutting-edge of modern smartphones. We’ve even seen some commercial releases of the technology. But the infrared sensors that power the Face ID feature can’t penetrate typical OLEDs.
According to Young, Apple can address the hurdle by making the display more transparent or rearranging the pixel patterns on the OLED panel. It’s also worth noting that both of Apple’s display suppliers will have to design qualified solutions for this issue, making the hidden Face ID system all the more unlikely.
Rumor has it Apple internally tested under-display fingerprint sensors for the upcoming additions to the iPhone price list, but it was shelved for not meeting the design standards.