Over time, Apple shrunk the notch to consume less area. The obvious thought is that Apple has been working toward getting rid of that blemish altogether. Isn’t a front camera or security components taking away pixels from the user a bad thing? I assumed so, until Apple showed off its Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro. Now I’m convinced that either camera cutouts or some software-only version of its Dynamic Island will be around, at the top of the screen, for a very long time.
In case you missed it, Dynamic Island is the marketing name Apple gave its revised notch area on its iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The new area for the front camera breaks away from the top of the screen and floats with screen pixels all around it.
The physical screen is only half the equation, though. The feature works with iOS 16 software to create an illusion that the entire black void can be used for system notifications and Live Activities, such as sports scores or ride-sharing alerts. It’s quite alluring to see the pill-shaped space ebb and flow, allowing different apps and alerts to utilize its capabilities.
What’s So Great About the Dynamic Island?
It’s very early, but the Dynamic Island tells a more cohesive story around flashes of information that routinely come at you throughout the day. For example, plugging in the phone to charge gets a different visual indication than connecting AirPods do, and those alerts are still different from how an incoming FaceTime call looks. But now, starting with both iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, the Dynamic Island becomes a hub for all those miscellaneous notifications and system alerts.
Having a system hub isn’t exactly exciting by default, but Apple took the idea and ran with it. The company infused some personality into that screen area; even its name suggests something beyond the status quo. At the end of the day, the design is both clever and substantive.
But regardless of the subjectivity of fun or cleverness, the Dynamic Island is exciting because it addresses a real need for all mobile users for keeping tabs on incoming information. Having Apple’s Live Activities stationed at the top of the screen and updating data from apps in real time is helpful for multitasking.
A Camera Under the Screen
The Dynamic Island might be useful, but is it critical enough to take up part of the screen forever? Making more screen real estate available for people’s content seems obvious, but it isn’t as straightforward as you might imagine. I went hands-on with the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra phone, which places its front camera under the screen, and was shocked at how difficult it was to utilize the available top center area of the display.
Most of the time apps treated the area as off-limits and used a toolbar or other sleights of hand to downplay that part of the interface. Websites weren’t scrolling from the very bottom of the display to the very top of it, for example. Only in a few unnatural instances could I stretch and zoom in on a picture to get my own content to use the extra display pixels.
I came away from that Axon 40 Ultra phone less amazed by the under-screen technology and more surprised that hiding the camera does very little for usability. I didn’t feel like I gained any more real estate. Plus, the trade-off was that the camera hiding under the screen produced terrible pictures.
Using the front camera was like going back in time four or five years. Selfies were lifeless, grainy and generally unpleasant to look at. This technology of hiding components under screens will get better, but it won’t be happening in the next couple of years—it will take longer.
On top of everything else I discovered while using the Axon 40 Ultra, I also found out that removing the front camera wasn’t noticeable. Anecdotally, I held up the phone to several people and asked them what they saw, and no one realized the camera was gone until I pointed it out.
The Future of iPhones
On an infinite timescale, yes, the new island area on iPhones might go away—forever is a long time. But, even after the physical cutout on the screen disappears and quality cameras can live under the pixels, I do think some form of the Dynamic Island will stick around long into the future.
The top center area on phones, tablets and even computers has been underutilized for a long time. Before the notch appeared on the iPhone X, Apple mostly only used the top center space of the display to show the time. Anyone who has an iPhone 8 or SE right now can open apps and check out how the area is often wasted.
I don’t think using the top space on the new iPhones 14 Pro to collect and display system information is a fad. The design is going to trickle down to other iPhones when Apple decides the price is right for the screen technology. There’s a chance the Dynamic Island even makes its way to iPads and Macs in the not-too-distant future.
Eventually, when these devices are literally all-screen and pixels cover everything, that’s when we’ll probably see the Dynamic Island more. When it’s purely software, it can provide even more utility and dance around the screen in new, unique ways. Island life is here to stay.
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