iPhone 14 Pro 'Floating Notch' Could Give Controversial Screen Change An Unexpected Purpose

Ever since the first iPhone 14 Pro leaks started popping up, one aspect that's generated wild buzz is the controversial design up top. Instead of the boat-shaped notch, Apple is reportedly going for a design that puts the Face ID and selfie camera in two separate cutouts, with one of them being pill-shaped while the other one is circular. Such a combination hasn't been attempted by any smartphone maker so far, and irrespective of how you look at it, that 90-degree slanted 'i' design looks weird.

But it appears that the iPhone 14 Pro won't look that hideous after all. Citing an unnamed source, MacRumors claims that the entire pill + hole design will actually look like a large pill-shaped cutout. If the mocked-up renders are anything to go by, this design approach looks a tad more palatable. Again, no mainstream smartphone maker has put a pill-shaped cutout right in the middle alongside the top edge. It's usually a centrally-positioned circular punch hole or a pill-shaped cutout in the left or right corner of the screen.

The dual-hole camera of the Redmi K30 is actually two independent holes. pic.twitter.com/adTmorUrO2

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 12, 2019

It appears that Apple will turn off the pixels between the pill and round cutouts at the top, making it appear like a single large black pill with the Face ID and front camera inside. This isn't really a novel approach. In 2019, Xiaomi launched a phone called Redmi K30 that had two circular cutouts for the front cameras. However, the company allowed users to disable the pixels between the two round cutouts.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman tweeted that the rumored pill + hole cutouts on the iPhone 14 Pro will look like a single wide pill-shaped unit. MacRumors additionally reported that the pixels between the two cutouts will also be used to show indicators for mic and camera usage. At the moment, these green and orange indicators appear on the left side of the notch on current-gen iPhones.

On the iPhone 14 Pro and its Max variant, these indicators will sit between the Face ID and front camera hardware. The report also mentions that Apple might allow users to tap on the indicator lights and see more information about how an app is currently using the mic or camera. On an Android phone, users see an indicator flashing in the top right corner of the screen whenever an app has access to the camera and mic. Google calls it Privacy Indicator and it was introduced with Android 12 last year.

This is true. It looks like one wide pill shaped cutout. Having that separation would look odd during use. https://t.co/SrAtYQsENx

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) August 31, 2022

As for the rest of the package, the iPhone 13 Pro is shaping up to be a major upgrade, if leaks and rumors are to be believed. The main camera is being bumped up to a 48-megapixel sensor, the selfie camera is reportedly in line for an autofocus upgrade, and the ultrawide-angle camera is also being beefed up. The Pro iPhones are also touted to get 8K video capture support. Moreover, we are hearing rumors of the wired charging output going all the way up to 30W.