During the fourth quarter of last year, we began to hear whispers that Apple was lowering the size of the Dynamic Island cutout. This possibility was initially proposed by Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu, who stated that the reduction in size of the shape-shifting notification system would only apply to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This would be the first modification to the Dynamic Island’s size since Apple introduced the function with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
We would be shouting “Stop the presses” if it were the 1940s, and a spinning picture would show up with a headline saying that Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has changed his mind about the Dynamic Island’s size on any iPhone 17 model. Since Kuo, who works for TF International, is renowned for making accurate Apple predictions, you can believe him when he claims that no iPhone 17 model would have the Dynamic Island’s size decreased. Sort of.
Kuo’s tweet on “X” Friday said, “I expect the Dynamic Island size to remain largely unchanged across the 2H25 iPhone 17 series.” I’m not sure about you, but the phrase “largely unchanged” allows a small gap in case Kuo is wrong (with a nod to the Fonz).
Non-believers are hopeful that the Dynamic Island would live up to the promise it made when Apple introduced it in September 2022, rather than its size. Prior to its release, there were allegations that Apple had hidden a second cutout at the top of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max to provide the appearance of a single long cutout. But the introduction of the Dynamic Island surprised the most, and when the feature changed shapes during the presentation to expose audio controls, the ooohs and aaahs from folks watching at home (including mine) gave the impression that Apple was onto something huge.
However, the Dynamic Island, like several other features introduced by Apple to the iPhone since Siri, including the majority of Apple Intelligence features, has been underwhelming, and at this point, most iPhone users would prefer to see Apple remove all of the Face ID components from the screen and bring a pristine display to the iPhone.
To that aim, Apple recently secured a U.S. patent that overcomes the challenge of getting infrared light, which is used to scan and verify a user’s face, through the pixels under an iPhone’s display. Apple realized that it could remove a portion of the subpixel array to pass infrared light through the pixels beneath the screen. Will Face ID be relocated under the glass with the iPhone 18 next year? Will Apple discontinue the Dynamic Island in 2026? The answers to these questions are a little less than 20 months away.
What we can tell you is that the most reputable source of Apple information (other than Apple, of course) now says we should expect “the Dynamic Island size to remain largely unchanged across the 2H25 iPhone 17 series.”
