Before Apple introduced the iPhone 14 Pro, rumors indicated that the company would embrace a hole-punch + pill cutout. During its “Far Out” event, the company did choose this cutout instead of the well-known notch but decided to call the space the “Dynamic Island” and made it a full black pill.
That said, it still seems that this design choice was a last-minute decision as Apple’s own website was showing some iPhone renders that the company never presented publicly.
According to a Reddit user, Apple’s Philippines Privacy page showed an “i” shaped cutout instead of the now-known Dynamic Island. While AT&T and other vendors already published mistakenly some iPhone 14 Pro renders with the hole-punch + pill cutout, this is the first time Apple did the same.
The Philippines Privacy page showed the “i” cutout until at least October 4 but has been updated. If you search for the page on the Web Archives, you’ll see that a couple of days ago Apple was still displaying some iPhone 14 Pro renders with this “i” cutout instead of the Dynamic Island.
What makes it weirder is the fact that some iPhone 14 Pro renders use Dynamic Island and some don’t, making us wonder whether an Apple employee wasn’t just paying attention or whether Apple was planning to give customers a toggle to choose between the full Dynamic Island and the clean cutout with no software interference.
Here’s how Apple describes the iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island:
The Dynamic Island enables new ways to interact with iPhone, featuring a design that blends the line between hardware and software, adapting in real time to show important alerts, notifications, and activities. With the introduction of the Dynamic Island, the TrueDepth camera has been redesigned to take up less of the display area. Without impeding content on the screen, the Dynamic Island maintains an active state to allow users easier access to controls with a simple tap-and-hold. Ongoing background activities like Maps, Music, or a timer remain visible and interactive, and third-party apps in iOS 16 that provide information like sports scores and ride-sharing with Live Activities can take advantage of the Dynamic Island.
Although users have already embraced Dynamic Island, I wonder if Apple will ever give customers the option to display the hole-punch + pill cutout instead of a full black pill.
Related coverage: iPhone 14 Pro battery life blows Android away.
