“iPhone 13” models are widely expected to feature a smaller notch. MacRumors today shares a first look at the potential refined design.
In March, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TFI Securities wrote that Apple’s 2021 iPhones could include a smaller notch, increasing the phone’s usable screen space. Kuo also predicted that Apple’s next-gen iPhones will also have larger batteries thanks to a new internal space-saving design, improved 5G modems and better cameras.
Greek repair provider iRepair has provided MacRumors with an alleged photo of front glass panels for iPhone 13 models, with the same three 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.7-inch display sizes as the iPhone 12 lineup. The notch on each iPhone is visibly smaller as a result of the earpiece speaker being moved up into the top bezel, a design choice that was first rumored for iPhone 12 models last year but failed to materialize.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and a few other sources previously claimed that a few Face ID components will be consolidated in iPhone 13 models, resulting in a smaller notch, but they did not mention the earpiece being repositioned.
The notch’s design has gone unchanged since it debuted on the iPhone X in 2017.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s the Incredible Shrinking Inelegant Kludge! May it someday disappear altogether. iPhone (and iPad) are meant, and destined, to be a single sheet of glass.