Apple Explored These Notch and Dynamic Island Designs for iPhones

[platinumaqua]

a thin top bezel looks better to me and makes for a more functional status bar.

The notchless phones have rotation lock, carrier name, alarm clock (added in dynamic island phones), TTY, VPN (and more) indicators that the notch phones doesn't have.

 

[gaximus]

Personally, I think expanding the notch would have been the winner (without the radii). Close to the rounded one near the top of the original post.

View attachment 2352415

No offense but that's worse than the top right design, which was the worse design I had seen. Symmetry is key. Borders need to be the same all the way around, the notch got away with this by having the border be the same all the way around, even in the corners, then intentionally haven a notch protrude out from the top, making it all symmetrical and making it all intentional. This looks like the designers got to the top and just couldn't figure out how to design the rest and gave up.

 

[tgwaste]

The only thing I hated about the Notch was the removal of the battery percentage. When they brought it back to overlap the battery image I was really happy about it and I personally think the Dynamic Island is awesome. Everything under display will be great some day though.

 

[lewchenko]

Personally I much prefer the hole punch design on the Samsung series than both the notch or DI on the iPhone.

 

[obamtl]

I wonder if some of those designs are part of Apple’s sting on leakers.

 

[dmk1974]

No offense but that's worse than the top right design, which was the worse design I had seen. Symmetry is key. Borders need to be the same all the way around, the notch got away with this by having the border be the same all the way around, even in the corners, then intentionally haven a notch protrude out from the top, making it all symmetrical and making it all intentional. This looks like the designers got to the top and just couldn't figure out how to design the rest and gave up.

I think Apple clearly cheated when they went from the 8 design to the X. Eliminating the bottom button and heel along with the fat top area that were unused (remember, way back when we had truly rectangular screens with sharp screen corners?). Notch, bubble, whatever....they eat into the usable area. Radii cheat the true screen size. Is it a "theoretical" sharp corner or true diagonal? If they measured X and Y (to the bottom of the dynamic island) I think people would be disappointed in the screen size.

The thin top row with the earpiece, camera, and coner stats in as think an area as possible is 100% better than the dumb island eating up space so far from the top.

Also, I think screen symmety is way more important than border symmetry.

 

[Timpetus]

I'm glad they went with the DI. I find it much less intrusive and more useful than the notch on my last phone. I'll take a hidden camera behind the screen when the tech is ready, but until then I'm happy with the dynamic island making the cutout fun and useful.

 

[dmk1974]

I'm glad they went with the DI. I find it much less intrusive and more useful than the notch on my last phone. I'll take a hidden camera behind the screen when the tech is ready, but until then I'm happy with the dynamic island making the cutout fun and useful.

Camera behind screen would be amazing. Though, I bet there's some Apple designers that are pushing a notch or island with a bumped out front cam like the ones that have been growing on the back side. 🙂

 

[Warped9]

I have a notch on my iPhone 14. Doesn’t bother me in the least. I never notice it.

 

[Jim Lahey]

People should have done hard jail time for the dynamic island. 25-Life.

Jobs would have hired a contract killer.

 

[Tagbert]

Personally I much prefer the hole punch design on the Samsung series than both the notch or DI on the iPhone.

Sure, smaller is better but that is not an option. It’s not just a simple camera there. You need room for the faceID sensor and emitter and the ambient light sensor.

 

[Tagbert]

The dynamic island sucks up way more usable screen real estate than a shallower "forehead". Having pixels at the top between the collapsed island and the top bezel is just dumb. Might as well keep the notch and expand it if desired.

The DI did not take more room. When Apple added the notch, they expanded the screen upward by the height of the notch. When they switched to the DI, they again expanded the height of the screen by the extra pixels of the DI. In both cases the content area underneath stayed the same. Most apps draw in that content area. The small mote above the DI gives some space for animations. If the DI touched to top of the phone, it would make the DI look larger than it is due to how your visual system treats connected and separate elements. It’s not dumb to take into account how our brains interpret shapes.

 

[sjsharksfan12]

I know it means less screen real estate, but I much prefer the right-side purple one. Yes, I've "gotten used to it," but the notch is still a design crime.

I actually wouldn't mind a Control Center on the right side. I sometimes forget about the control center, and wish it was easier to get to. That right side model could have had some purpose to it.

 

[Fuzzball84]

If dynamic island had been located at the bottom of the screen they would have called it iCrotch or if connected to bottom bezel…. iGap

 

[dmk1974]

The DI did not take more room. When Apple added the notch, they expanded the screen upward by the height of the notch. When they switched to the DI, they again expanded the height of the screen by the extra pixels of the DI. In both cases the content area underneath stayed the same. Most apps draw in that content area. The small mote above the DI gives some space for animations. If the DI touched to top of the phone, it would make the DI look larger than it is due to how your visual system treats connected and separate elements. It’s not dumb to take into account how our brains interpret shapes.

So, looking at the iPhone 14 v 15 specs (both at 460 ppi density), Apple actually increased their theoretical screen area by 1.7% (nice actually!) at 0.95% taller and 0.77% wider while still calling each model 6.1". But with that 1.7%, decided to waste that space on the DI.

I don't have a 15 to measure, but the bottom edge of the notch on my 13 and 13 Pro come down only about 3/16" from the top of the display. What is the distance from the top of the display to the bottom of the DI?

 

[UltimaKilo]

They should have simply shrunk the notch. The Dynamic Island is incredibly more intrusive.

 

[KENESS]

I think in 10 years we will look back at the notch and really say WTF..

I think it is more likely we'll look back and say, "I remember that..." just like all the things that really strike me when I look back at my original iPhone, or iPhone 4, etc.

Unless we're just itching to be critical, nostalgia seems the more likely result.

 

[JapanApple]

Owned two versions apple X and apple iPhone 14 Pro max. Neither of the two have I dislikes about.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

I want the entire display to be a big notch.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

They should have just kept the bezel.

There is ZERO valid reason for the screen to go all the way to the edge if it's just going to have a stupid notch or pill in it.

A bezel looks SO much nicer.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Personally, I think expanding the notch would have been the winner (without the radii). Close to the rounded one near the top of the original post.

View attachment 2352415

Not as good as a real bezel with a full-width status bar, but definitely much nicer than the abomination we ended up with.

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

they are so ugly

 

[Tagbert]

I don't have a 15 to measure, but the bottom edge of the notch on my 13 and 13 Pro come down only about 3/16" from the top of the display. What is the distance from the top of the display to the bottom of the DI?

The bottom of the DI is a few pixels further from the top of the screen than the notch. That is why Apple added the same amount to the top of the screen so that the content below the DI was the same as the content area below the notch. Your content did not lose any space.

 

[Ilikecheese_91]

My heart will never forget...

 

[nsklaus]

i hate all those "notches" ideas. especially on macbook but also on iphone. what's next ? in 2025 two notches ?
then what? a hole in the center of the screen so you could see what's happening behind your screen maybe? "dynamic island" ... pff ... ridiculous ideas.

as dumb as "no bios" on macs.
as dumb as "you cannot boot off external drives".
as dumb as 32 bits support removal
as dumb as no opengl and no vulkan
apple became a factory producing dumb ideas.
i find their vision pro is their dumbest achievement yet. not only i will never wear one of those buckets on my head, but i'll also avoid those who will. apple also succeeded in making ms-windows to look better than macos now. thanks to the ugly theme refresh introduced since big sur. it's all sabotage. my general opinion on apple products is getting seriously low. it's mistakes after bad decisions, after stupid ideas, after cheap quality components, after bad design. i am considering abandoning apple completely. i think something like an asus g14 will be a good step back into sanity world. the only good idea apple had these last 10years is the M-series chip. everything else has been a degradation.