It’s hard to imagine the notch on the iPhone 14 or the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 15 looking any different than they do now, but there will of course be a full design and review process behind it – and some unused ideas have just been leaked .
According to information obtained by MacRumors, a variety of different designs were explored before finalizing the designs we have now. Some mockup images have also been put together to show what the rejected ideas would have looked like.
One of the ideas apparently considered was a pop-up sidebar on the right side of the screen, next to the notch – a sidebar that would be used to display the time, signal strength, battery level and other important information.
Apple also reportedly thought about extending the notch all the way across the top of the screen – so less of a notch, more of an Android-style status bar – which might have had the added benefit of giving users a bit more battery life .
A design for life
Apple’s design team was also busy introducing the Dynamic Island, which first appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. One of the rejected ideas here was a full row of status icons below the selfie camera.
It seems that Apple designers also toyed with the idea of having a dynamic island that was permanently elongated – so just an island in that case – before deciding that it should change shape and size depending on the context.
Go to MacRumors to see the full set of mockups and imagine what it could have been. It’s possible that some of these ideas will reemerge in the future as Apple continues to tweak the look of its iPhone lineup.
It’s also possible that both the notch and the Dynamic Island will eventually disappear altogether, if Apple can figure out how to somehow get the selfie camera and the sensors next to it under the screen (as Samsung has done with the Galaxy Z Fold 5).