Samsung could make iPhone 14’s first ‘hole punch’ displays

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Samsung Galaxy with hole punch display
Samsung already makes 'hole punch' displays for its own phones.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung has reportedly started manufacturing new “hole punch” OLED displays for iPhone 14 that will allow Apple to finally do away with the notch.

The South Korean company already uses hole punch displays in its own Galaxy devices, negating the need for a black bar at the top of the screen. On iPhone, however, they will initially be exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro models.

Samsung helps Apple kill iPhone’s notch

Apple made iPhone’s notch slightly smaller this year with iPhone 13. However, it remains a rather unsightly cutout that continues to be noticeable when watching fullscreen videos, playing games, and more. That could change in 2022.

“Apple will apply a ‘hole display’ that leaves only the front camera hole to next year’s new iPhone,” reports Korean website The Elec. The displays will reportedly be manufactured by Samsung using LTPO OLED technology.

These are the same panels Samsung is used to producing for its own handsets, which first started seeing “hole in active area” panels in 2019. Other smartphone vendors, like Google and Huawei, also use similar screens.

Hole punch displays provide a small circular cutout for the device’s front-facing camera, while the rest of the panel is taken up by the screen. It’s much more elegant than the notch Apple currently uses.

Exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro

It’s not yet clear how this design would work with Face ID, which requires a number of different sensors that currently sit above iPhone’s screen.

Recent rumors have suggested Apple could embed those sensors beneath the display, or they could be shrunken down to fit between the top edge of the display and the iPhone’s chassis — like the front-facing speaker in iPhone 13.

Not all iPhone 14 models are expected to use a hole punch display, however. It is believed the change will be exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, like ProMotion, with more affordable models continuing to employ the notch.

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