The Apple iPhone 12 may have a smaller notch than the iPhone 11 series — smaller even than each iPhone before it going back to 2018’s iPhone X.
A leak has shown a schematic purported to illustrate the layout of the newly minimized notch, and it appears to be around half the width of the current notch. It follows another recent detailed leak of the iPhone 12 Pro Max based on a series of renders, which also showed the smaller notch, and an overall design reminiscent of the iPad Pro and the iPhone 5.
The small notch apparently has all the same sensors seen in today’s iPhone, meaning the Face ID system will still be used. The array starts out with the infrared camera and is joined by a flood illuminator, a dot projector, an ambient light sensor, and a proximity sensor. The selfie camera is also squeezed into the new notch, while the speaker appears to have been moved above the sensor array. This may be instrumental in shrinking down the notch.
Small notches are nothing new. We’ve been seeing notches about half the width of Apple’s iPhone notch since the start of the notch-wars in 2017, when having a smaller notch than the iPhone’s was touted as a selling point. See, for example, the LG G7 ThinQ and the Huawei P20 Pro. Rhe previous leak claimed the notch would be around the same size as the one seen on the 2018 OnePlus 6. These notches were indeed less noticeable, but they had less technology inside too.
The exact shape and size seems to be unconfirmed, with the earlier renders coming from designs obtained by accessory manufacturers, which quite often do not have the exact details, just the overall size and dimensions. What may change are the angles and curvature around the edge of the notch, as it seems to be agreed from several leakers that the width of the notch will be reduced for the iPhone 12. It’s not known whether the latest leak is based on more final information.
In addition to the smaller notch, the bezel around the iPhone 12’s screen may be smaller than the current phone, and the size of the screen on the Pro may increase to 6.1 inches, and the Pro Max model may increase to 6.7 inches. Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 12 series in the Fall, despite concerns over its 5G antenna systems being ready in time for the usual release schedule.
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