We will have to wait until 2026, according to analyst Ross Young, to have an iPhone on the market with a Face ID and a front camera perfectly integrated under the screen. Until then, Apple would have planned a series of intermediate steps, the first of which we will see this year when the iPhone 14 Pro (and not the standard ones) will still have the two external elements but will do without the notch.
The analyst points out that there are still several technical challenges to be faced and overcome before the display cameras fall within the quality standards of the most demanding brands, and Apple is fully among those with the highest expectations. The camera in the display still has negligible adoption rates: on Galaxy Z Fold 3 Samsung introduced the UDC (under-display camera) but the attempt did not prove too convincing, and the same ZTE that was the first to bet on the fascinating feature ( on Axon 20 ) only a few days ago proposed it on the most valuable product in the range, Axon 40 Ultra.
APPLE STANDARDS EXTEND ALL SCREEN TIMES
In short, to quote the analyst: there are several steps forward to be taken to obtain a UDC that is totally invisible when the screen is on and at the same time with a quality suitable for a top of the range worth over 1,000 euros, and Apple is one of those companies, perhaps also the first on the list, capable of resisting a technology until it has the absolute certainty that it can offer results at least comparable to those of the system it leaves behind. This will happen, according to Young, in 2026 and presumably a year later for standard iPhones.
iPhone 13 Pro – 6.06″
iPhone 14 Pro – 6.12″
iPhone 13 Pro Max – 6.68″
iPhone 14 Pro Max – 6.69″Differences due to pill + hole replacing the notch and narrower bezels.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) May 10, 2022
The current four iPhones differ little or nothing in terms of design. This year, however, there will be the first change of approach that will lead to more marked dividing lines between the two standard iPhones and the same number of Pros that Apple, however, intends to bring with it in the years to come. The “pill” in the display for Face ID and front camera will debut this year on the iPhone 14 Pro and the two lines will be aligned in 2023.
In 2024, again according to the analyst’s forecasts, the Pros will have Face ID sensors under the display but there will still be a hole for the front camera, an “achievement” that the standard iPhone 16 – assuming they are called that – will get a year later, and so on until 2027 when the whole range should have a front camera and Face ID under the screen.
IMMEDIATELY LITTLE WIDER DISPLAYS ON 14 PRO AND PRO MAX
Through Twitter, the analyst did not miss a passage on the more immediate future, on the iPhone by release in September. iPhone 14 and 14 Max are not mentioned because, by now we know, they should keep the notch and more generally the aesthetic setting of the 13, while on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max Apple should show an aesthetic optimization work that will lead to a slightly larger display.
Not only the pill for the front camera and Face ID so as to put the notch behind, but also a file limited to the black bands around the screen which, with the same external dimensions, will give the user a greater diagonal: 6.69 inches on the iPhone 14 Pro Max instead of the 13 Pro Max’s 6.68 inches, 6.12 inches on the iPhone 14 Pro instead of 6.06 inches. The analyst, consistent with the timeline on the evolution of the iPhone that he shared, adds that the same evolution of the diagonals will occur in the standard range of 2024, on the iPhone 15 and 15 Max.