iPhone 14 Camera Cutout May Not Be the Shape You Expected

There are only a few days left until Apple's annual iPhone launch. In the meantime, the rumor mill continues to fester. We've known the Pro model was losing its notch since rumors began about the first iPhone 14. But recent rumors suggest things are different.

Before that, the news-savvy cell phone accessories manufacturers also made the iPhone 14 Pro series in advance of the tempered film, with front camera in “i” shape. It is reasonable to say that this should be on the board, right? After all, cell phone accessories manufacturer basically can not be wrong.

However, the cell phone accessories manufacturer really went wrong this time.

According to reports, Apple will fill the gap between the cutouts with a black area on the screen, making it look like a "wide pill-shaped cutout”. It is also interesting to note that Apple seems to be planning to place Face ID and other technologies in the gap between the two cutouts.

Apple is apparently using software to black out the space between the holes to make it appear as a single bar.

The iPhone 14 Pro is still essentially with an “i-shaped cutout” camera on the screen. It's just that Apple has hidden this part to make it look more integrated.

The rumor was seemingly confirmed by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who tweeted, “This is true. It looks like one wide pill shaped cutout. Having that separation would look odd during use.”

When you see it, it definitely makes sense. If there's one thing Apple loves about its design language, it's symmetry, and connecting the bars makes the cutouts look perfectly balanced. Fold the phone in half and the two sides match perfectly just like an iPhone X or MacBook Pro. A hole+pill setup doesn't have the same effect.

Some people will naturally complain about Apple's decision to make the camera cutout on the iPhone 14 Pro, but having the screen flow around a small hole doesn't give you any screen real estate. A single black bar is less distracting, more symmetrical and cleaner than two different sized holes.

Plus it's unique. The only Android phone in recent history that wasn't a round camera was the Galaxy S10 Ultra, which had a larger opening on the far right side of the display that could accommodate two cameras. The S20 quickly abandoned the dual-camera concept due to its poor positioning. Since then, Samsung, Google and almost every other Android phone has had a separate camera hole in the center or corner of the top of the phone. Apple's phone definitely stands out, and that's how it likes it.

The reports suggest iPhone 14 Pro will move the privacy indicators for the camera and microphone to that gap. Instead of showing a small orange dot in the top-right corner when the microphone is in use and a green dot when the camera is active, these indicators will apparently have more prominence between the cutouts.
When a program calls up the camera or microphone, the middle section alerts the user with a green and yellow camera indicator.

The green and yellow dots are the "recording indicators. If an app on your iPhone is calling the microphone, you'll be alerted with a "yellow dot" in the upper-right corner of the screen, the same way you'll be alerted with a "green dot" if an app is calling the camera.If both are in use, only a green dot will be displayed. In addition, you can tap the privacy indicator to see which apps are using the microphone and camera.

Meanwhile, Apple may redesign the camera app to put more controls at the top of the screen - namely the flash and live photo buttons. More photo and video settings could appear underneath the perforated cutout. But these changes aren't set in stone, which is probably a good thing, since people probably don't want to cover most of the display with their hands while adjusting photo and video settings.

Everything seems obvious now. As Ben Gaskin predicted in October 2021, the iPhone 14 will feature a simple, symmetrical, distinctive cutout that isn't a notch, but is still Apple's take.

With Apple's annual iPhone launch just days away, we'll soon know exactly what the company has in store for us.