Apple might bring another significant change to its devices after the potential redesign for the iPhone 17 lineup this year. A new credible report has surfaced on the web that claims the Apple iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will no longer have the pill-shaped cutout on the front. They’ll simply use a punch hole for the selfie camera, paired with a hidden 3D biometric sensor behind the screen.
This decision has the potential to wipe out the ugly dual-cutout notch we see on the screens of current iPhones. Ever since the iPhone 14 Pro, the company has removed the U notch from its flagship phones. Now, even the base iPhone 15 and 16 have the same dual cutout screens.
The pill shape you see on your screen is made of two individual cutouts: one for the selfie camera and the other for the 3D depth mapper/Face ID, both hidden behind a feature called the Dynamic Island. From what we’ve gathered from the news publisher “TheInformation,” iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max might change that tradition and bring redesigned screens in 2026.
The Apple iPhone latest Pro models will have a single punch-hole cutout on the front, according to the leak, making their screens appear more like Android phones. Luckily, this redesign won’t come at the expense of Apple’s trusty 3D Face Authentication. The company is just taking a different approach to implementing it.
Per the report, the Face ID will continue to exist on the iPhone 18 Pros, though it will be hidden behind the screen, similar to Samsung’s hidden selfie camera on foldable devices. The 3D biometric sensor on iPhones uses rays to measure the depth of your face and make a 3D profile specific to you.
It seems Apple has figured out a way to make the 3D depth mapping technology work from behind the screen. This should make the screen less intrusive with a single visible cutout for the selfie camera and give iPhone users more real estate to enjoy.
Expectedly, 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. However, 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.
