'Leaked' Images Allegedly Show iPhone 12 With Smaller Notch, Rear Camera Redesign, and Home Screen Widgets

[MacRumors]

Two images shared on social media this morning are currently stoking speculation about possible hardware redesigns coming to the iPhone 12 and the potential introduction of Home screen widgets in iOS 14.

Shared by Twitter user Fudge (choco_bit), the images depict a front and rear graphical representation of a smartphone with interface elements on the screen, suggesting it came out of a tutorial or support documentation.

Two focuses of interest are the size of the device's notch, which appears to be about a third smaller than the one currently found on iPhones with Face ID, and a new camera setup on the rear of the device showing a revised lens array.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that at least one new iPhone in 2020 will feature a smaller front camera lens for an improved screen to bezel ratio, ultimately resulting in a smaller notch at the front.

Meanwhile, the redesigned camera array is generating online chat about rumors of a new 3D camera coming to the iPhone 12, similar in design to the LiDAR scanner on the new 2020 iPad Pro.

Elsewhere, on the device's main display are what look like widgets in amongst icons on the Home screen. As part of a new feature set coming in iOS 14, Apple is also thought to be working on bringing widgets to the iPhone Home screen for the first time.

We're bringing these images to the attention of readers mainly for the purposes of discussion, since the source is not an established leaker and there's no way to verify the legitimacy of the pictures.

Article Link: 'Leaked' Images Allegedly Show iPhone 12 With Smaller Notch, Rear Camera Redesign, and Home Screen Widgets

 

[ikir]

I love the notch, i’m pretty happy to see it still there in iPhone 12 design! Smaller is better for sure, maybe more space for control center/system icons.
BTW I don’t like idea of widget in home screen, it would be more iOS/clean to have widgets only in one page as it is now.

 

[Falhófnir]

The 'widgets' remind me a bit of Windows Phone's live tiles, which was actually quite a nice balance between organised and dynamic. Looking forward to this feature if legit!

 

[Dave245]

I wish Apple would bring a lot more customisation to the iPhone. The fact that with Samsung phones you can customise just about anything, is really appealing. Also Apple should make a smaller Apple Pencil for the larger iPhone (like the S-Pen with the Note series).

That would be a great upgrade and compete with Samsungs Note series.

 

[newyorksole]

Very nice. Kind of what I was expecting. I like how Apple adds certain things to the iPad that eventually go to the iPhone. In this case the LiDAR Scanner. The 4 circles look much better and more uniform. Smaller notch is welcome.

Bring it on!

 

[agsystems]

(if true) - I am happy to see Apple making some progress on the design/notch here - since it looks like they are working within a 3 year cycle, maybe the next redesign in 2022/2023 will completely get it of it.

 

[VSMacOne]

These just seem like poorly made Photoshop drawings. You can zoom in on the notch and the bottom right part of the photo and notice some irregularities...

 

[Rogifan]

I hope if Apple does something like widgets it’s close to iPadOS implementation. Mixing widgets in with icons and folders looks cluttered and ugly. Having a section for widgets and a section for apps/folders is cleaner.

 

[kerr]

Whether based on leaks or guesses, how much narrower can we expect the notch to be on future iPhones? One third? Half?

 

[Glideslope]

The 'widgets' remind me a bit of Windows Phone's live tiles, which was actually quite a nice balance between organised and dynamic. Looking forward to this feature if legit!

Agreed. Live Tiles on the Win Phone was a nice feature.

 

[JosephAW]

The notch needs to extend all the way across for two speakers, more cameras, LIDAR, IR and other sensors.

 

[DNichter]

I welcome both changes. I don't mind the notch so it is no big deal to me either way. I am interested to see how they implement widgets. I am not sure I will use them, but I trust Apple to do it right and keep some semblance of consistency opposed to Android. I saw a leak that included complications on the lock screen so I think this, plus live widgets, would be a nice some easy/good options to add.

 

[OnTheCatwalks]

Now if only they could get the rear cameras to sit flush again. That is my only issue with the 11.

 

[x-evil-x]

I love the notch, i’m pretty happy to see it still in iPhone 12 design! Smaller is better for sure, maybe more space for control center/system icons.
BTW I don’t like idea of widget in home screen, I would be more iOS/clean to have them only in one page as it is now.

you love the notch but happy to see it smaller? so eventually when its the smallest and gone you will praise apple for reducing it to nothing.
The notch is a limitation in technology nothing more. Its not a design idea. If the tech was there to have a behind the screen camera with all the tech we have now we would never of seen the notch.
While I don't mind it that much it is really an eyesore and cuts into a lot of the information we are missing. Ill be happy to see it go and real true full screen phones with no popup cameras start showing up.
Just look how much space the notch plus the under notch bar in safari is. Thats a good 1/4" to almost 1/2" of space we are losing because of the way the notch cuts into the screen/top bar.

 

[Nick Finocchi]

I just want 1080p video on my $1800 MacBook.
Absolutely ridiculous they can put 4K 60FPS on the front facing camera of a $700 smartphone (iPhone 11), and can’t put 1080p in a top of the line $1800 MacBook.

 

[x-evil-x]

Now if only they could get the rear cameras to sit flush again. That is my only issue with the 11.

really only should matter to people that go case less

 

[motm95]

I am most interested in the more squared off edges like the iPhone 4 had. I hope the 12 is more like that.

 

[Kylo83]

I just want 1080p video on my $1800 MacBook.
Absolutely ridiculous they can put 4K 60FPS on the front facing camera of a $700 smartphone (iPhone 11), and can’t put 1080p in a top of the line $1800 MacBook.

Agree my 16” machine should have 4k camera

 

[Scottsdale]

Any notch on this phone that is more than the width of two camera holes equals no purchase. They’re making the damn thing look worse not better. At this point, I would take far thicker bezels across the top and the bottom. Again, don’t care whether it’s FaceID or TouchID or OtherID. Just don’t ruin my experience with the display.

 

[44267547]

It’s interesting to read ‘the notch’ comments on sites like this, but outside the tech world, for anyone that’s owned the latest iPhones with a notch, I’ve never heard it mentioned by anyone. Simply because consumers probably don’t care and they see the greater picture of how convenient face ID is, which overrides the aesthetic of a ‘cut out’ at the top of the display. If Apple decides to minimize it, so be it, but it’s never been an issue affecting the iPhone anyway whatsoever.

 

[PostApple2016BrainWash]

I won't be surprised if the customer's boycott Apple for producing such a horrible screen design to the smartphone for 3 years regardless what sort of excuse it made.

 

[itsmilo]

Does that mean we will finally be able to place app icons anywhere on the screen 😱

But let’s be real, they will probably just align automatically depending on the size of the widget ...

 

[IIGS User]

The camera lenses and such on the back are really getting out of hand.

It's almost a $1,000 Monty Python skit.....

 

[AppleFan78]

To me, it looks more like app icons that you can set the size of based on importance. That could be useful.

 

[recoil80]

I guess a smaller notch is better, but the current one doesn't bother me too much. They'll have more room to show info like batter percentage and maybe the carrier even when the phone is unlocked and there is only the time and the GPS indicator now.
I'd love the phone to be thicker and have more battery with a flush camera, but I guess we'll have the usual protruding camera on the back. I'm now using my Xs without a case and the phone is wobbly, quite annoying.