Apple’s iPhone will reportedly go notch-less next year

Bye-bye, notch.

According to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), Apple will launch at least one iPhone with a smaller front camera and better screen to bezel ratio in 2020, meaning it will have a slimmer notch than the current models. 

Additionally, China Times quotes a Credit Suisse analyst as saying that Apple will launch at least one notch-less iPhone next year, and that all new iPhones launched in 2021 won’t have a notch. 

The analyst claims the notch-less iPhones will use an under-display camera — tech we’ve similarly seen on prototype Oppo and Xiaomi phones — to make the notch-less display possible. 

The new, notch-less iPhones will also use full-screen, acoustic fingerprint ID technology instead of a regular fingerprint scanner. 

Note that these reports say nothing about the iPhones coming out this year — these will likely all have a notch and be quite similar to the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max, and the iPhone XR. 

Rumors that Apple will go with an in-display fingerprint scanner have been around for a while; in fact they predate the notch itself. But Apple has instead opted for a completely new authentication method, the Face ID, with sensors lodged in the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR’s notch. 

If the reports above are correct, Apple will now slowly transition away from Face ID, replacing it with an advanced, in-display fingerprint scanner. While that’s fairly plausible, given how far in-display fingerprint scanners have come in the past year or so, under-display cameras are still in their infancy; in fact, Oppo itself used careful wording when describing its new camera technology. It’ll be interesting to see whether Apple can overcome all these obstacles and launch a truly notch-less device within a year.