The iPhone 13 series came out in mid-September 2021, right on schedule, despite the ongoing chip shortage. But so did the first iPhone 14 rumors. The early leaks said the iPhone 14 Pro phones will deliver a hole-punch display next year, which would represent Apple’s most significant design makeover since the iPhone X. Then, we saw a number of reports from Korea that said that various display makers are indeed readying manufacturing capabilities that would allow them to supply the hole-punch screens Apple will need this year for the iPhone 14. Fast-forward to early January, and an insider is already teasing the iPhone 14 “hole-punch-sized notch.”
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentioned the iPhone 14 hole-punch notch in his newest installment of the PowerOn newsletter.
The Apple insider did not provide too many details about this year’s iPhone 14 however:
In terms of phones and watches, look for a 5G version of the iPhone SE in the first half of the year, along with a revamped iPhone 14 range with a hole-punch-sized notch in the fall.
Gurman went through all the products that Apple should unveil in 2022, and that’s how the iPhone 14 with a hole-punch design came up. However, Gurman’s mention of the hole-punch display is notable. Gurman has a great track record reporting on Apple’s every move.
What the iPhone 14’s “hole-punch-sized notch” means
What’s also interesting about the report is the way Gurman phrases the iPhone 14’s hole-punch display design. It’s a “hole-punch-sized notch,” a detail that could be quite telling.
As we often explained, Apple will not abandon the Face ID functionality when moving the iPhone to hole-punch designs. 3D face authentication is a unique iPhone feature and a massive advantage Apple has over the competition. Android vendors have had little success replicating the technology. Only a few companies attempted to create Face ID alternatives, and many ditched the feature soon after that — Google is one such example.
Apple has been studying ways to integrate the Face ID and Touch ID sensors within the OLED display. Such technology would allow it to reduce or eliminate the size of the notch entirely. Eventually, the selfie camera might be positioned under the screen.
Gurman’s hole-punch-sized notch might mean that the iPhone 14 Pro models might have a different sort of display cutout. It might not necessarily be a circle, as it happens with Android handsets. Instead, the display hole might get the shape of a pill that would let Apple place additional sensors next to the FaceTime camera. However, that’s just speculation at this point.
The iPhone 14 series will probably launch in mid-September. This gives us more than nine months of iPhone 14 display design leaks.
