Digitimes on Friday reports that Apple is planning to reduce the size for its VCSEL chips used for 3D Face ID scanning by up to 50%. This would be used in “new iPhone and iPad devices to be rolled out later in 2021” featuring a smaller “notch.”
Earlier this month, a dummy model based on specifications of what’s expected of the “iPhone 13 Pro Max” has been shown with a noticeably smaller notch than the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Wesley Hilliard for AppleInsider:
Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, or VCSEL, is a sensor used to spray infrared dots over a surface in order to ascertain a 3D depth map. The report suggests Apple is reducing the size of the chip used in Face ID only, but the same type of chip is used for LiDAR on the rear of iPhones and iPads.
The reduction of the notch size has been rumored every year since the iPhone X was announced that introduced the Face ID system. Dummy models and schematic leaks make the notch reduction more likely than ever for the 2021 iPhone.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything that helps along the way to removinge the inelegant kludge is, of course, very welcome indeed!
I have no idea why MDN is so obsessed with the notch.
I rather like it.
I don’t mind the notch itself, just the fact that Apple uses it as an excuse to hide your battery percentage, the most important at-a-glance piece of information on your lock screen besides the time.
Really? Apple is hiding the battery percentage? I guess a quick swipe down to activate Control Center is too much to ask of Nick, therefore Apple is evil.