New Leak Shows A Shorter Notch On The iPhone 13

It’s official, Apple will announce the iPhone 12 lineup on October 13. On Tuesday, the tech giant confirmed that there will be a virtual press conference streamed online for the announcement. This date was speculated before by several tech outlets as the iPhone maker had held an event in September.

However, while the iPhone 12 hasn’t been even unveiled yet, there have already been leaks and rumors around the iPhone 13. A popular Samsung leaker just shared the first design render of the next-gen iPhone. Interestingly, the leak makes a lot of sense considering another leak revealed earlier this week.

According to the report from Korea, Samsung is testing different technologies to place the front-facing camera under the screen, which can be ready as soon as 2021. But due to poor results, the company has to delay the launch of UDC (under-display camera) to next fall. So, it’s not surprising that the Galaxy S21 will sport a hold-punch screen like the previous models while the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will likely receive the UDC.

If this turns out true, the report will imply a lot of things for the entire smartphone industry. If Samsung’s UDC tech is not mature enough to be used on the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lineups, its customers won’t want the technology for their flagship phones either.

Right now, Samsung supplies most of the OLED panels for Apple’s iPhones, and the deal won’t likely end soon. The Cupertino-based firm has been considering other screen manufacturers to make it self less dependent on the Korean giant, but Samsung still makes the best OLED displays in the industry.

Android smartphones that sport the same punch-hole screen design can benefit from the under-display camera technology. However, it’s not that easy for Apple to replace the notch with an under-display lens. The reason is that not just the camera, but the notch also houses several sensors required for Face ID. Apple’s Face ID doesn’t have rivals especially when Google has dropped its 3D face recognition system. The iPhone won’t likely follow the Pixel anytime soon.

Rumor has it that the iPhone 12 will be significantly redesigned but that’s not supposed to affect the display. The upcoming iPhones will take after their predecessors’ notch design though the notch could be smaller than the iPhone 11 lineup.

Now, the leaker Ice Universe has posted a few updates that show the iPhone 13 with the old notch design but with a shorter cutout. The design is shown in this drawing.

It’s clear how Apple would make the notch shorter, probably by decreasing the size of the TrueDepth components. Another potential way is placing the speaker system under the display, which has been used by Sony and other phone makers.

>>> Apple Will Officially Announce iPhone 12 Series At 'October 13' Event