We’re going to be stuck with the notch on the iPhone 13, though at least rumors point to the sensor and camera housing getting smaller with this year’s models. But one designer has us wondering why there even has to be a notch at all.
iPhone concept art from designer Antonio De Rosa shows us a new look iPhone — notch-free for the first time since Apple’s iPhone X — that illustrates what the phone could look like if Apple took a more radical turn.
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In De Rosa's design, seen in a series of photos, the notch still houses Face ID sensors and a front-facing camera, but it does so above the display. The result is an interesting design — a notch that appears above the rest of the phone in an asymmetrical frame.
The designer has called the design the iPhone M1, presumably because like the iPad Pro 2021, this model would sport Apple’s M1 chip. (Let’s throw cold water on that right now — the A15 Bionic processor is in line to power this year’s iPhones.) And if nothing else, it certainly looks different from any iPhone we’ve seen before.
Such a design would likely be a divisive one, but you needn’t worry. Apple is said to be sticking with the iPhone’s current look, right down to using this year’s screen sizes in the new iPhone 13 models. (Yes, even the iPhone 13 mini is part of the plan.) The notch will be there, only smaller than it was before.
How much smaller? A video last week showed off an iPhone 13 Pro Max dummy unit and the notch was measured at 26.31mm wide. That’s a reduction from 34.62mm on the current iPhone 12 Pro.
That’s probably small enough for most people, especially if it means the edge of the phone won’t be jagged like it is in De Rosa’s render. And we may not be stuck with the notch forever — future iPhones beyond this fall have been rumored to give up the notch entirely.
