If you're a fan of the iPhone notch, you're really not going to like this analysis article - and the iPhone 14 really isn't going to spark any joy with you.
We've recently seen sketches of the new iPhone 14 Pro, coming from a leaker on Chinese social media site Weibo. This includes dimensions of the phone so we know - assuming they're accurate - that it'll be taller, thicker but less broad, but only by a few millimeters or less, so nothing to write home about.
What's more interesting is that the image shows two punch-holes in the screen to house the front camera and Face ID array, in place of the notch that the iPhone 13 (and earlier Apple smartphones) boast.
Despite most Android manufacturers banishing the notch years ago (save for a few super-budget phones), some Apple fans have been holding onto this antiquated design feature.
However the writing is on the wall at this point: the notch is out.
Analysis: notch time to die
It's been a really busy few weeks for the iPhone 14, because even though the phone is only expected to launch in September, there's been a bizarre influx of leaks of Computer Assisted Designs (CADs) for the device.
We saw iPhone 14 renders here and iPhone 14 Pro renders here, all showing the same thing: no notch, and dual camera cut-outs instead.
To fans of iPhone notches, this has probably not been a great week - every new story repeats the refrain 'the iPhone 14 won't have a notch!'.
This writer isn't exactly a fan of the notch, but can imagine it's not exactly a fun time for fans of the design feature. Every story on the web is reminding you of the loss of your beloved bar.
But this is the nature of time - nothing lasts forever, and the notch is a design feature that was destined to be dropped when something better came along.
Are punch-holes better? Well, slightly, but they'll also go the way of the dodo once under-display cameras stop being terrible.
We don't know for certain that Apple is dropping the notch - the Apple Event in September could bring us a startlingly similar iPhone to ones we've seen before. But given how much the cut-out has been leaked, and how little we've heard about the notch, it seems all but confirmed.
