Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. News

iPhone 18 Pro may kill the Dynamic Island and join the punch-hole party instead

Leak suggests Apple's 2026 Pro iPhones may ditch the Dynamic Island in favor of under-display Face ID, while standard models play it safe.

Add as a preferred source on Google
Apple iOS 26 running on the iPhone 16 Pro
Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

It’s been about four months since the iPhone 17 launched, and rumors about the iPhone 18 series have already started to pour in. The most recent one comes from the Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station (via Weibo), shedding some light on the display specifications for the entire lineup.

Starting with the baseline iPhone 18, it could feature the same 6.27-inch (marketed as 6.3-inch) 120Hz OLED screen as the iPhone 17, with ProMotion and the Dynamic Island.

Recommended Videos

The iPhone Air 2, which has returned to the rumor mill after being cancelled, will also retain the 6.55-inch 120Hz OLED screen we’ve seen on the original iPhone Air, with the same ProMotion technology and Dynamic Island.

Apple’s Pro iPhones may be headed for a radical front redesign

Both the non-Pro successors will allegedly sport the same panel technology and size as the current models. The Pro models, however, could ship with something that we haven’t seen on any iPhone model, so far.

The iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max could come with a 6.27-inch and a 6.86-inch display, respectively. But instead of the Dynamic Island on the front, both phones might feature an under-display Face ID sensors.

In other words, the cutouts for the TrueDepth sensor and the 3D dot projector could be hidden under a transparent patch in the screen. Besides that, the front camera could be moved to the top-left corner of the screen, giving the Pro models a unique yet familiar appearance.

Unique, as they would be the first iPhones to come with under-display Face ID sensors and a punch-hole cutout in the front, and familiar, because we’ve been seeing punch-hole displays (albiet mostly in the center) on Android smartphones for years.

Does this mean that the iPhone 18 Pro models will do away with the Dynamic Island, which unlocks interactive notifications and informative status indicators for background activities? Apple could still retain the feature, but it would be purely software-based.

Hence, buyers should expect to see the iPhone 18 Pro models in a new look this September (along with the purported iPhone Fold). The iPhone Air 2, with a Dynamic Island, could also debut at the same event. Meanwhile, the regular iPhone 18, with a familiar screen, could debut in the spring of 2027, alongside the iPhone 18e.

Shikhar Mehrotra
For more than five years, Shikhar has consistently simplified developments in the field of consumer tech and presented them…
The iPhone 18 Pro just leaked through a factory drop test, and Apple cannot be thrilled
Next Pro iPhone just fell out of Apple's secret vault
iPhone 18 Pro revealed in a massive leak

Most iPhone leaks are predictable. You'll see a case show up or an early leak showcase the mold of the upcoming iPhones. But the leak this time around is a bigger deal, since it has basically just revealed the device as it's being tested.

A new post from leaker Ice Universe claims to show the iPhone 18 Pro undergoing a drop test. The clip itself is short, but it gives us a proper look at an unreleased Pro iPhone in a controlled test environment. This reveals that it is durable enough to handle a basic fall, though the thickness is still surprising, and the weight is still unknown.

Read more
Leaked cases give us the clearest look yet at Samsung’s upcoming foldables
Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone

Samsung's annual Unpacked event is just around the corner, and the company is set to take the wraps off its new foldables in July. We are expecting the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide that will compete directly with the iPhone Fold, and the Galaxy Z Flip 8 to take center stage. Ahead of the big day, a fresh batch of leaked cases, courtesy of Android Headlines, has given us our best look at these phones.

What do the cases tell us about the Fold 8 and Fold 8 Wide?

Read more
I tried a hidden video trick in iOS 27, and it saved me a ton of frustration
Better quality, smaller file size, and no status bar. iOS 27's video frame feature beats screenshots on every count.
Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone

If you've ever been on vacation and chose to record video instead of taking photos only to avoid missing the fun moments, thinking you’d pause and take screenshots later, you might have ended up questioning your decision later. 

You see, the process involves multiple steps, starting from hunting for the right frame, pausing, and taking a screenshot. If it doesn’t look good, you go back to the video, pause somewhere else, and try taking another screenshot. You see where I’m going with this?

Read more