Last month we saw a report claiming Apple will use under-panel camera technology for the 2023 Apple iPhone 15 Pro models (tentative name). Korean website The Elec revealed that Apple will use the new technology from Samsung to hide Face ID under the display. However, a new patent discovered by Patently Apple suggests otherwise. The patent application talks about an iPhone featuring a display with a front surface and back surface. The display comes with a plurality of pixel regions that emits light and a plurality of apertures that transmits light from the front surface to the back surface.
The device in the granted patent gets a camera on the back surface of the display that is configured to capture images. The Apple’s TrueDepth camera used in the latest iPhones significantly increases the size of the notch. Once the technology shown in the patent is implemented, Apple may be able to get rid of the notch.
It is worth noting that technologies that are demonstrated in Apple patents do not always make it to the actual product. Also, if the company is planning to kill the notch in Apple iPhones, it still may take a few years.
Previously, a similar design was also predicted for the Apple iPhone 14 Pro models. However display industry consultant Ross Young suggested that the smartphones will feature a punch-hole cutout to house the front camera and the pill-shaped cutout will feature an infrared camera for Face ID. In a follow-up tweet, Young also suggested that we may not be able to see an under display infrared camera until 2023 or 2024. This means that we can not expect the under display Face ID feature until iPhone 15 Pro.
Apple was also widely reported to be testing under-display Touch ID for its current flagship iPhone 13 series. Reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg claimed that the tech giant tested the feature in some iPhone 13 models. However, new reports say that iPhone fans may have to wait for this technology.
