Apple is not undecided. The leakers are hedging their bets so that, essentially ANYTHING that happens is what they predicted. It’s like them musing that Apple was still figuring out what port was going to be on the iPhone 15 when that decision would have started with the SoC years earlier.
It’s easy, Apple’s gotten very effective at dealing with leakers. The ONLY information they have that’s even remotely accurate is going to be at least 6 to 12 months old. And the leakers know most readers don’t know how the lead time on iPhone manufacturing works (and those readers that DO know and want to keep their jobs keep their mouths shut). So, while to someone that decided as they were heading out the door to change their shoes, it makes sense that Apple could be making a decision like this right up to August. Last minute decisions are just a part of life.
I agree completely and hope an adequate DI exists in some form after the need for a physical area has been resolved by burying components under the display. However, what you consider a "gimmick" was quite clever initially and provides a useful function for many of us today. It will be ironic when, in the days following all the great tech developed just to hide the cut out, Settings will include a toggle to provide a highlighted zone (aka, "island") that indicates the status of and provides access to a key function(s). I will toggle that ON.
Not for Apple. At least not for the last several years. They avoid leaks from the FCC by sending the devices as close to preorder as possible. Someone at the FCC is fast-tracking them. They have had multiple instances of devices from the iPhone X to the Apple Vision Pro that had "pending FCC approval" boilerplate on their webpages until days before they shipped. It stops the products from leaking early.
Current rumors are that the iPhone Ultra will have circular punch hole (hole punch?) cutouts for the selfie cameras on the outer and inner displays. The cutouts aren't the Dynamic Island, since the DI is purely software-based, and can appear the same regardless of the size of the camera cutouts.
Based on prior rumors and leaked photos, while the IR flood illuminator seems to be the most likely part to go under the display, Apple seems to also be trying to get the IR camera under the display. That's the component that's been shown in the leaked photos as being located at the upper left corner of the display, maybe along with the flood illuminator built into the same component package. The IR dot projector is tougher to move under the display due to the strict geometry requirements for its approximately 30,000 dots, so that's the part that seems likely to still need to be under a cutout in the display, to the left of the selfie/RGB camera, at least for the time being.
Moving Face ID's IR camera under the display isn't so simple, or else it would have been done by now. No Android-based phone manufacturer has been able to do it properly, though you can bet they'd dearly like to, so that they could claim a competitive edge over Apple for this component.
I don’t.
Apple is weighing two options for the iPhone 18 Pro's Dynamic Island, and a final decision has yet to be made, according to the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
In a new post today, the leaker says that current supply chain feedback points to an A/B scenario: one option retains the existing screen mold from the iPhone 17 Pro, while the other introduces a significantly smaller "Mini Dynamic Island" enabled by moving the Face ID receiver and transmitter components beneath the display.
The update is a slight shift from the leaker's previous position. Earlier this year, Digital Chat Station claimed Apple was leaning toward reusing last year's design, which would have left the Dynamic Island largely unchanged.
The report was a dissenting voice against a body of reporting, including from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, DSCC's Ross Young, and multiple other Weibo leakers, suggesting the iPhone 18 Pro would feature a Dynamic Island roughly 35% smaller than on the iPhone 17 Pro.
In a follow-up post, the leaker also addressed the iPhone 18 Pro's rear design. He said that the rectangular plateau design introduced with the iPhone 17 Pro will carry over unchanged, but the back will see "minor adjustments to the body materials and design details.” This is likely a reference to previously rumored changes aimed at achieving a more uniform look between the aluminum unibody frame and glass cutout for wireless charging.
The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to be announced this fall alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone.
Article Link: Apple Apparently Still Undecided on iPhone 18 Pro Dynamic Island
