iPhone 16 could shrink the Dynamic Island with under-display Face ID

iPhone 16 could shrink the Dynamic Island with under-display Face ID

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iPhone 16 Pro might show only a holepunch camera.
Graphic: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Face ID sensors reportedly will be hidden from users in next year’s iPhone 16 Pro. That would free up space for more screen area.

If true, under-display Face ID might mean that the days of the Dynamic Island are numbered, even though the feature only recently debuted in the iPhone 14 Pro.

Don’t get too attached to the iPhone Dynamic Island

In the iPhone 14 Pro models, the cutout for the front-facing camera and Face ID sensors isn’t a notch. It’s pill-shaped. And because it changes sizes and adds functionality, Apple dubbed it the “Dynamic Island.”

But the amount of screen real estate it requires reportedly will shrink considerably next year. That’s because the Face ID sensors are going below the screen in the iPhone 16 Pro, according to the Korean-language news site TheElec.

However, an opening for the front-facing camera supposedly will remain. It’s proving difficult to make an under-display camera that takes top-quality pictures and doesn’t also leave a visible mark on the screen.

So the Dynamic Island will live on for a bit longer. Especially since the under-display Face ID sensors allegedly will debut only in the iPhone 16 Pro models, not the standard ones.

Most Apple fans likely will be used to the Dynamic Island by 2024. All four of the iPhone 15 models coming in autumn reportedly will include the feature in place of the old notch (aka the “static peninsula”).