The gradual process of reducing the size of the iPhone screen cutout that’s been ongoing for years will continue, but the front-facing camera will remain visible until 2030, according to a reliable source of leaked Apple info.
Getting the various scanners to work well from behind the iPhone’s OLED panel isn’t a trivial task.
iPhone could keep Dynamic Island screen cutout until 2030
The screen cutout dubbed “the notch” appeared with the iPhone X in 2017. Later, the iPhone 14 Pro models converted the screen notch into an oblong punch hole. Apple called it the Dynamic Island because the space expands and can deliver notifications. Still, it isn’t an aesthetic choice — it’s required because the iPhone’s selfie camera and Face ID scanners need a screen cutout.
The feature isn’t as controversial as it used to be. That’s good, because the iPhone screen cutout could hang around for five more years. It’ll shrink further well before then, though, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, in a Monday post on X.
The analyst says the shrinkage will occur in a series of steps. The first of these reductions will come in 2026, with some of the Face ID scanners moving under the panel.
In the 2028 iPhone, all the Face ID scanners will go behind the visible panel, with only the front-facing camera remaining as a round punch hole in the screen, according to Young. And the camera won’t disappear behind the panel until the 2030 iPhone.
Young’s sources in the display industry allow him to make predictions about Apple products that often prove accurate.
A slow process
Some might wonder why it’ll supposedly take so long for Apple to put the iPhone’s front-facing camera under the display. Especially considering some Samsung Androids do that now. But no one who’s actually seen one of those handsets is likely to wonder, as the under-display camera is still quite visible. Apple is likely waiting until the tech is available for the selfie camera to be truly hidden before implementing it.
But 2030 might well bring the end of the Dynamic Island and the beginning of an iPhone in which the entire front of the handset is usable screen area.
