The Dynamic Island will shrink this year, but only for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. If the rumors are to be believed, this change could progress into something much more significant. The prospective iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max could hide their Face IDs behind the screen, leaving only a single punch-hole cutout and a much cleaner display.
Today’s leak came from the Digital Chat Station. His report on Weibo confirms that Apple is working on a new technology that could potentially hide the 3D depth sensor/Face ID. Apple’s HIAA tech will push the scanner under the OLED screen to get rid of the Dynamic Island once and for all.
HIAA, or as the leaker calls it, “Hole-in-Active-Area,” is something we’ve seen before. This is a punch-hole design that removes a part of the pixel matrix from the display so a lens underneath gets clear visibility. Samsung has been working on this technology for at least four generations of Galaxy Z Fold devices.
Some Nubia Redmagic phones also use a low-volume pixel matrix for selfie sensors, but this technology has never been adopted for Face ID. Apple’s biometric Face ID actually works using an infrared emitter and a camera sensor that detects the infrared light.
The current under-display cameras can only allow visible light to pass through, but Apple seems to have adapted the same technology to work for Face ID. The company is now testing prototypes and could eventually unveil the hidden Face ID at one of its global events.
We’ve been hearing about this change for a long time, ever since the iPhone 15 series was released. But the leaker seems confident that the Apple iPhone new models, iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max might finally turn this dream into a reality. Sadly, the base iPhones will not get the same treatment.
If the leak turns out to be accurate, only the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will get an under-display Face ID, and the rest will keep the same two-in-one screen cutout for the Dynamic Island. Apple will release the iPhone 18 series next year with the base and Pro models. Sometime later, the iPhone 18 Air and 18e might go official in the spring of 2027. We have plenty to look forward to. Stick around if you don’t want to miss anything.
