From the circular home key to the dynamic island, Apple’s iPhone has always had a clear and recognisable style. Yet the upcoming changes to the design could result in a brand new look with no clutter.
Details on the redesign of the iPhone 17 family come from noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Writing on Medium, he details changes to the selfie camera that Apple plans for the presumptively-named iPhone 17 due to launch in 2025.
More interesting is his analysis of the iPhone display as a whole and how it will impact Apple’s easily recognised dynamic island.
The dynamic island is a UI feature that seeks to hide the punchout hole in the display for the selfie camera lens. Rather than leave it as an isolated circle, the dynamic island surrounds it with black pixels, and proceeds to use this space for widgets and information, resizing the camera island to best suit the displayed information.
The dynamic island also obscures several other sensors, including those needed for FaceID. Kuo believes these sensors will be altered by placing them under the display and allowing the screen to flow over rather than around them. This will allow the critical fixed part of the dynamic island to be smaller and display more information.
Apple is expected to maintain the selfie camera’s punchout opening at least for the iPhone 17 design—presumably, the image degradation is too high for Tim Cook and his team to make the trade-off—yet Kuo expects the under-display technology to mature in time for the iPhone 18 design to feature a full and uninterrupted display.
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