Apple’s Dynamic Island debuted as an exclusive feature on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max in 2022 – but new rumors suggest the quirky design element could find its way onto every device in this year’s iPhone 15 lineup.
The tip comes by way of Bloomberg’s resident Apple aficionado Mark Gurman, whose latest newsletter speculates that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus – expected to be Apple’s entry-level phones in 2023 – will feature the previously Pro-exclusive Dynamic Island. The rumor corroborates previous leaks suggesting that the regular iPhone 15 will have the same screen size as the iPhone 14 Pro.
Arriving as a replacement for the notch that first appeared on iPhones with the iPhone X, Apple’s Dynamic Island is essentially an iOS-integrated virtual cutout capable of displaying notifications, privacy indicators, music album art, navigational directions and more useful info.
As popular as the feature has proven on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max – TechRadar’s US Editor in Chief, Lance Ulanoff, called the Dynamic Island Apple’s “biggest innovation” of 2022 – its absence on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus makes those phones a decidedly less interesting offering than their higher-priced counterparts.
If Gurman’s hunch comes to fruition, though, both the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus could arrive as more than just superficial upgrades over their respective predecessors.
The Dynamic Island isn’t the only Pro-level feature expected to come to Apple’s new ‘affordable’ iPhones, either – rumor has it that the iPhone 14 Prо’s high-res 48MP camera will likewise become a universal addition to the iPhone 15 lineup.
As for what features will be made exclusive to Apple’s latest slate of top-of-the-range iPhones, a chip upgrade – likely in the form of an A17 Bionic – seems inevitable. A titanium frame and periscope camera have also been touted as arriving as part of a much-rumored iPhone 15 Ultra.
There’s also a chance that Apple could finally introduce USB-C – the new common charging standard – across all of its iPhone 15 models. The legal deadline for mandatory USB-C ports doesn’t roll around until 2024, mind, so Tim Cook and company may stick with Apple’s proprietary Lightning port for one more year.
In any case, we’ll be staying abreast of all the latest iPhone 15 news, rumors and leaks as and when they surface throughout the year, so stay tuned to TechRadar for the most up-to-date info on what is likely to be 2023’s hottest smartphone launch.
