iPhone 13 notch could be smaller than on its predecessors. It is striking that we already started talking about the iPhone 13 when the official presentation of its predecessor, the iPhone 12, had not even taken place. Of course, if we look back, we will see that this was also the case with the previous generation, and with its predecessor, and with the one before that… iPhone and leak have become such complementary terms that it is almost rare to write one of them and not find the other within walking distance.
iPhone 13 notch could be smaller than on its predecessorsAnd precisely one of the recurring elements in the iPhone 13 rumors is the notch at the top of the screen, the famous notch in which the speakerphone for calls, the camera, and the other elements necessary to operate Face ID, the biometric identification system based on the user’s face, are housed. As you may recall, FaceID was introduced in 2017, hand in hand with the iPhone X, and since then the notch has been an immutable element in the design of successive iPhone generations.
You don’t have to be a fortune teller, prophet, or leaker with contacts in Cupertino to know that the notch solution is not liked at Apple. It is a lesser evil, a sacrifice in exchange for being able to count on Face ID, but neither the company nor part of the users is particularly proud of that element. Ideally, of course, the entire front of the phone would be the screen, as is the case in many rival smartphones. However, the iPhone 13 will not be an exception, its screen will have to share space with the notch, as we told you a few months ago.
— DuanRui (@duanrui1205) April 17, 2021
However, according to a recent publication of the popular leaker DuanRui, we can expect a change in the iPhone 13 in terms of the notch. And it is that according to the images he has published, the notch of the iPhone 13 could be smaller than its predecessors. We are not talking about a big jump in size, this should be clarified, but it could be enough to add some more information element (perhaps something related to privacy, or something related to Find My and Air Tags?) on both sides of the notch. As you can see in the image, the reduction has been achieved by removing the speaker to leave the only camera and Face ID.
This would be the first change in the size of the notch since its appearance in 2017, which makes it clear to us that Apple engineering must be working, for some time now, to achieve the maximum reduction in the size of the elements that integrate Face ID with the aim. So in the near future, it will no longer be necessary to use the notch to house them, and instead they can be placed under the screen or on some edge of the phone, integrated into the bezel. We won’t see it on the iPhone 13, and it’s a little hard to believe on the 14, but it seems clear that’s the way forward.
