Apple cored? iPhone 16 may finally debut far smaller hole-punch front camera, experts believe – but Android rivals have already had it for years

Rumor has it that Apple is planning to replace the iPhone’s dynamic island with a single hole-punch camera.

If the whispers are true, the market leader is following a design that Android phones have used for years.

The current iPhone design immerses the front cameras in a pool of black pixels called the dynamic island, which also functions as an interactive display, rather than dead space on the phone’s screen.

‘Apple is testing an iPhone 16 Pro punch-hole version, but it may not be final yet,’ says X user MajinBu Official. ‘Details will depend on March next year. I think we will most likely only see such a version on the iPhone 17

The change would fit with Apple’s reputation for airing new developments that are already standard features on Android phones with much fanfare.

For example, Samsung phones have front cameras with holes. And they have been doing that for years.

A major advantage of the hole-punch camera design is that it takes up less space on the screen. Readers with excellent memories may remember that some older smartphones had large black areas at the top of the screen where the camera was located.

These were known as notches.

But nothing has been confirmed yet when it comes to the latest iPhone.

Apple may be testing the feature, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it has plans to change the camera design.

And there have even been rumors that Android makers might to copy the dynamic island, instead.

While Apple may have developed a reputation among tech nerds for following the trend, in some ways it has been a trendsetter.

Some of these ways involve eliminating features.

Apple led the industry in doing away with headphone jacks and selling wall chargers separately instead of putting them in the box with a new phone.

In fact, early this year Realme issued its C55 phone, the first Android phone with a dynamic island-like feature.

Samsung Galaxy A51, released in December 2019, features a punch-hole front camera

Third-party app makers have also been rolled out dynamic island apps for Android phones, so Android users can use the one good feature Apple beat them to.

MajinBuOfficial isn’t the only one making its hypotheses about Apple’s next move. Ross Young, a display industry professional, even shared a mockup of an iPhone with a hole-punch camera last year.

So it looks like this rumor has been going around for a while.

And with the iPhone 16 coming in 2024, users noted in the comments on MajinBuOfficial’s post that Apple will likely keep the dynamic island for the next generation.

But maybe not for the iPhone 17.