Update: We've got a full run-down of all the iPhone 14 always-on display rumors here.
Days before the Apple event, MacRumors has leaked details and images of how the rumored always-on display on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max could work.
Months of rumors have pointed towards an always-on display that apparently Apple has reserved for its premium iPhone 14 Pro series models. A first for Apple, little was known about the always-on display — now, this last-minute leak gives us a glimpse as to how it could play out with several details.
MacRumors cites the same source that recently leaked that the iPhone 14 Pro notch is probably gone for good and will be replaced by a single elongated pill-shaped cutout. The report mentions that the iOS 16 lock screen will work in tandem with the always-on display on the phone.
At WWDC 2022, Apple announced a massive overhaul to its lock screen with iOS 16. A lot of different widgets and customizations of font, color and placement will be made possible with the new iOS. This ties in with the new rumored always-on display features that are tipped to feature widgets that will be visible “but will fade in and out at set intervals, unnoticeable to the user, to prevent OLED burn-in” on the Pro models.
Like Android’s always-on display, the leak mentions that notifications could be a part of the iPhone 14 Pro’s new display. Notifications will apparently roll in from the bottom of the screen one at a time and be visible for 10 seconds. When the screen is woken up, the notifications will animate and come up on the display in a stacked form.
This is something we had heard of with the iOS 16 announcement, where Apple had said notifications will come in from the bottom instead of the center of the wallpaper. The report says users will also be able to enable a notification counter at the bottom of the screen that will probably show unread notifications.
According to the leak, how the always-on display will work is that the background of the main lockscreen wallpaper will be darkened, leaving a colored foreground with the time and other “feature edge highlights depending on user customization.” Most lock screen elements will be seen on the always-on display.
Apparently, the always-on screen and the fully illuminated locked screen “will have to be configured in the same way” and will have to have the same wallpaper, color choices, fonts, and widgets. This means that they will essentially have to share the same wallpaper and the widgets chosen for the main lockscreen are the ones that will probably show up once the screen is locked. The leak goes on to mention that the core visual elements themselves can be customized.
MacRumors’ source says that Apple might use iOS 16 updates to iron out issues with the always-on display once it launches. Currently, the company is reportedly “scrambling software engineers from different teams, including the Apple Watch, to finish the always-on display experience before launch”.
Removing the notch and replacing it with a single unified cutout, gives the iPhone 14 Pro more room for status icons. Apple will reportedly change its status bar a bit. The cellular signal indicator will allegedLu move to the left of the cutout, leaving more space for the battery icon that will also feature the battery percentage with iOS 16.
Apple is tipped to charge $100 more for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max this year and the phones are expected to have significant upgrades as compared to the base iPhone 14 model. We will know more about the iPhone 14 series in just a few days, when Apple launches the phones along with the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple AirPods Pro 2 that are also expected to make their debut.
