iPhone 14's pill-shaped cutout seems all but confirmed: Expected release date, specs, and more

Apple is expected to introduce iPhone 14 at next week's "Far Out" event. There have been a plethora of rumors about Apple's upcoming smartphone, the most prominent of which is the removal of the notch, which has been a part of the iPhone's identity since 2017's iPhone X.

The upcoming Apple iPhone is expected to replace the notch with a pill-shaped cutout. Several recent Android smartphones are based on this design, and the most notable entries include the flagship Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.

The upcoming smartphones from the Cupertino-based tech giant will have two large pill-shaped punch-hole asymmetric cutouts at the top of the display. Together, the notch is shaped like a horizontal 'i'.

The larger display cutout is supposed to house the earpiece and the smaller rounded cutout will house the front-facing camera.

As per recent rumors, Apple is developing custom solutions baked into the iOS software to cleverly cover the cutouts in the display.

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The iPhone 14's pill-shaped cutout will be dynamically controlled by iOS

Visual difference between keeping the display turned off (left) and turned on (right) (Image via an unknown leaker)

The iPhone 14 is rumored to have turned off the pixels between the two camera cutouts. Thus, it will look like a single large pill-shaped cutout when the display is turned on.

This information was revealed by an unknown tipster online. Although anonymous, it seems to come from Foxconn employees responsible for the assembly of the iPhone smartphones.

iOS will keep the pixels turned off while watching content. This will make the experience distraction-free. However, while receiving notifications, the notch might drop down into a large rounded square to further heighten the software's aesthetics.

Some leaks also suggest that the space between the notches could be used to house privacy indicators for the upcoming iPhones.

The software might also extend the notch and house the status bar icons to the left and right of the notification bar.

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The iPhone 14 and 14 Max might still retain the notch

The iPhone 14 and 14 Max might retain the notches (Image via Twitter/@SaranByte)

Based on leaked photos of screen guards manufactured for the upcoming iPhone, the base model and the iPhone 14 Max might still retain the notch from the older lineups.

Images shared by Twitter user @SaranByte showcase only the iPhone 14 Pro and the Pro Max has i-shaped cutouts. The other two models resemble the cutouts that users have seen on iPhones so far.

Overall, the display cutout will be a more premium feature, like the LiDAR sensor which was introduced only in the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Apple might still be testing the feature and figuring out ways to improve the integration.

All the information leaked is speculation and rumors. Thus, it is recommended to take all of it with a grain of salt.