Apple is prepping a surprising change to the Dynamic Island with the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro, according to a well-known tipster. The screen cutout will supposedly get a lot smaller, and it’ll move to a new location.
If true, it’ll be the most significant revamp to the Dynamic Island since it debuted in 2022.
Dynamic Island could look very different on iPhone 18 Pro
The Dynamic Island is a brilliant example of making virtue out of necessity. Apple needed a screen cut out for its front-facing camera and Face ID sensors, and it turned what could have been a black blotch into a place to show alerts, live activities and other notifications without pulling users out of what they’re doing. It became a defining feature of recent iPhones.
But the Dynamic Island is in for a major revamp in the iPhone 18 Pro, according to Monday’s episode of Jon Prosser’s Front Page Tech.
First off, the Face ID sensors are supposedly moving behind the visible screen. That will leave only the front-facing camera visible to users. This change was predicted last year by another reliable source.
But Prosser says another change is also coming, and he’s the first to leak this tidbit: the Dynamic Island will reportedly move to the left side of the iPhone 18 Pro display. The rationale for this shift isn’t spelled out. Perhaps the hole-punch cutout will be less noticeable off in a corner when the screen is showing full-screen video?
To be clear, while the location of the cutout is changing, the functionality is not. “Dynamic Island is too integral to the actual software experience itself,” reports Prosser.
UPDATE: Or maybe not
Rival tipster Instant Digital disagrees that the screen cutout will move to the left side of the iPhone 18 Pro display. In a post on Weibo, they agreed that the Face ID scanner will move behind the screen, but disputes the assertion that the Dynamic Island will shift out of the center of the display. Only the Face ID scanner is moving.
“I, along with media outlets in China and South Korea, had already stated that the iPhone 18 Pro would have an under-display infrared sensor on the left side. I suspect this English author mistranslated, thinking it was a camera,” said Instant Digital.
Camera change to the iPhone 18 Pro
Fans of colorful iPhones should be happy to hear that Apple is allegedly testing three new colorways for the iPhone 18 Pro: burgundy, brown and purple, according to FPT.
Monday’s video also repeats a rumor we’ve already heard from several sources: Apple plans to equip its iPhone 18 Pro lineup with variable-aperture camera technology. The change will lead to better pictures in dim or very bright conditions and give photographers greater control over depth of field.
Watch the full Front Page Tech video for yourself.
More about Apple’s next flagship smartphone
Analysts and leaks suggest Apple’s next flagship Pro models will stick to familiar 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes but lean into big under-the-hood upgrades, including a next-generation A20 Pro chip built on a cutting-edge 2 nm process with new packaging for better performance and battery life.
The iPhone 18 Pro is expected to launch in fall 2026 along with the first folding iPhone.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
