The iPhone X is the first smartphone from Apple to feature an OLED display. It’s also the first to feature a notch which houses the components for its Face ID facial recognition system. There are different schools of thought on the notch and if you’re in the no notch camp, you might be interested in hearing this report. It’s believed that the 2019 iPhone is going to have a smaller notch as Apple is looking into ways to combine the Face ID sensors and the front camera.
According to a report out of South Korea, the iPhone X that Apple releases in 2019 or beyond will have a smaller notch. This would be made possible by reducing the size of the Face ID sensor’s housing.
The report claims that Apple is looking into ways to combine the front-facing camera with the Face ID sensors. If it’s able to do that, it will be able to reduce the space that these components take up on the front of the display. This means that it can slim down the notch and free up more real estate for the display.
There is an odd bit of information in the report, though. It claims that there’s going to be a single facial recognition module that’s coupled with the front camera. Face ID currently relies on an infrared camera, a flood illuminator, and a dot projector. It didn’t detail how Apple is going to combine all of these crucial components into a single module.
As is the case with early rumors, it may or may not be entirely accurate, so take this information with a degree of skepticism for now.