The Dynamic Island had a good run. Introduced in 2022 as Apple’s elegant workaround for the Face ID sensor array on the iPhone 14 Pro, depending on who you ask, it became either a really clever UI trick or a pill-shaped reminder that Apple still hadn’t figured out how to hide a camera.
Either way, it’s gone with the iPhone Fold. Replaced by a small hole-punch cutout on the outer display, according to Bloomberg.
iPhone Fold without Face ID?
Here’s the thing: Apple didn’t decide to abandon Face ID, it was physics that made the decision to do so. The outer shell of the foldable iPhone is simply too thin to accommodate the sensor array required for Face ID.
No space; no facial recognition. Instead, Touch ID is making a comeback – integrated into the side button, just as it works on iPads today and on the iPhone SE in 2022, and that’s not a bad thing.
Anyone who has unlocked an iPad Pro with their thumb while half asleep knows it works; No facial scan is required in the cinema. Whether iPhone fans who have spent years waving their faces toward their phones will adapt so gracefully remains, entertainingly, an open question.
What about the inner screen of the foldable device?
Apple has apparently racked its brains over this. Two options were tested for the larger interior screen: an under-display camera completely hidden behind the panel and the same punch-hole cutout as the outside. The under-display approach sounds more impressive – and it is, until you actually try to take a photo with it.
Tests revealed that the image quality simply wasn’t good enough, so Apple decided to punch a hole. Pragmatic; slightly disappointing; probably the right call.
The punch-hole design is not just reserved for the Fold. Bloomberg reports that the same camera cutout will be available in a touchscreen MacBook Pro later this year – suggesting that Apple is standardizing the aesthetic across its hardware lineup rather than treating this as a one-off foldable quirk.
For system alerts and app monitoring, the dynamic island continues to appear on the outer display. There is simply no need to hide a Face ID module behind it anymore.
