According to rumors, the iPhone 18 Pro has an improved 24-megapixel front camera that offers improved low-light shooting capabilities and improved video call quality.
According to a new rumor, the improved camera could be housed in a smaller Dynamic Island cutout. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the Dynamic Island pill shape is getting smaller on the iPhone 18 Pro and future iPhones.
While Gurman hasn’t confirmed how much smaller the pill-shaped cutout will be, a previous rumor from January suggested it will be about a 35% reduction, from 20.76mm to 13.49mm.
Didn’t we get a punch-hole cutout?
Initial rumors suggest that the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max will have a small hole-punch cutout for the camera. Apple was supposed to achieve this by placing the Face ID components, including the dot projector, floodlight and infrared camera, behind the screen.
These rumors were based on a patent filed by Apple that described removing subpixels to allow infrared rays to pass through the gap. However, the latest rumors suggest that this will not be the case, at least for a few years.
What it means to you
In general, Dynamic Island’s cutout doesn’t bother me, but it detracts from the media experience by obscuring a significant portion of the content. A smaller cutout should result in an improved user experience.
This could also mean that the Dynamic Island software elements have a larger workspace, allowing them to display more information at a glance. It would have been great if Apple had found a way to reduce the pill size to a hole cutout, but I’ll accept any improvement I can get.
While I’m not a fan of the large pill-shaped notch, the Dynamic Island feature built around it is one of Apple’s best recent software innovations, and I’d like to see it stick around even if we have a completely notch-free display.
