While the iPhone 14 Pro launch is probably about ten months away, the rumors are already piling up and the latest once again touches on what Apple is going to do with its front-facing camera array in 2022.
The rumor comes from Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, a frequent source for display related leaks and rumors, and he believes that the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max models will eliminate the notch in favor of what he calls a “hole + pill design” (via MacRumors).
This comes on the heels of a rumor from earlier this week that the iPhone 14 Pro would adopt a centered pill-shaped hole-punch design. While the iPhone’s notch is far from universally loved, it has become a part of Apple’s design identity since it first appeared on the iPhone X back in 2017 with the most recent MacBook Pros also adopting the look.
Moving away from the notch presents not just a hardware challenge, Apple’s Face ID tech requires considerably more space than the typical front-facing camera on most phones, but also sacrifices one of its most unique design elements. That last point appears to be part of the thought process behind the “hole + pill” versus the pill design we saw previously. Huawei already uses a pill-shaped front-facing camera design as did Samsung several years ago on the Galaxy S10+.
We now believe Apple will have a hole + pill design on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models. The smaller hole will not be invisible…The two hole concept will be unique to Apple, like the notch, not similar to all the pill models from Huawei…Let’s see those new renders pic.twitter.com/Udt8cTKzPZJanuary 12, 2022
This would allow Apple to retain a unique look and likely provide the necessary space for the Face ID hardware and front-facing camera. Previous reports from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo have also claimed that the iPhone 14 would eliminate the notch, so the evidence is certainly building. Notably, this round of rumors all focuses on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, so it’s possible that the notch is one of the points of differentiation for the standard and Pro models in 2022.
While I’ve never been a fan of the notch design, I’m not entirely sold on this look either as you do learn to ignore the notch and this split design seems almost more distracting to me. With the better part of a year to go before the launch of the iPhone 14 we are sure to see plenty more leaks and rumors on the phone so if you want to stay up to date bookmark our iPhone 14 page for all of the latest.
