However, today’s Apple presentation will deliver a new iPhone SE (among other things), which will be old hardware at a cheaper price. This is a significant event for Apple. A new rumour has arisen that the notch on the high-end iPhones will be replaced with a punch hole when the devices are updated in September.
This shift has been predicted several times, although the timescales provided by the various experts vary greatly. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicted that the Face ID technology will be included into the display this year, but Display Supply Chain Consultants’ Ross Young predicts a three-step rollout.
Face ID will be housed in its own pill-shaped cutout while the selfie camera will take use of a circular cutout. The “pill + hole” design is what it’s called. While the two iPhone 14 Pro variants will use the new design, Young predicts that the regular iPhones will continue to employ the notch (similar to the current refresh rate split).
All iPhone 15 models will have a dual-punchhole layout in 2023—and the holes will be smaller than this year. As far as I know, it’s not obvious how much smaller
Lastly, the Face ID module must be moved down underneath the display. One of the layers of the OLED display isn’t extremely transparent to the infrared light used for facial scanning, therefore a major redesign won’t be necessary. OLED cathodes may be improved by replacing the material, using “backside laser drilling,” or by using a new pattern for the cathodes.
With one supplier currently certified to commence mass production, Young feels the latter technique will be picked. Under-display Face ID may not be available by 2023, but that is not a certainty according to experts.
The display and sensor teams will have to work together to implement this update simultaneously, which will add time to the process. As a result, a second supplier must meet Apple’s requirements to keep prices low and supply constant.
There is no mention of a fingerprint reader in the under-display design, whether it is available for 2023 or delayed until 2024. Gurman stated last year that Apple tried the UD readers, but was unsatisfied with the design and dropped the project. Source (requires account) | Via