The Dynamic Island hides the TrueDepth camera used for Face ID.
The evolution of Face ID will see it finally move under the display with the iPhone 18, with new rumor claiming all front cameras will be under-display by 2027.
Apple has repeatedly been rumored to be pushing for changes away from the existing pill-shaped hole in the display of the iPhone to something smaller and eventually invisible. If a leaker is correct, this could occur within a few iPhone generations.
Serial Apple leaker “Digital Chat Station” posted to Weibo on Monday about Apple’s camera changes. Supposedly sourced from the supply chain, Face ID will undergo some major changes within just three years.
For 2025, the iPhone 17 generation, the leaker mentions that the main camera change will be on the back, with the use of a “Horizontal large matrix lens DECO.”
Face ID comes into play by 2026 and the iPhone 18, with the use of a punch hole screen. While the compact hole will be used for the typical front-facing camera, Digital Chat Station believes that Face ID will be repositioned to function from underneath the display itself.
One generation later, the iPhone 19 in 2027, will have more changes to the in-screen cameras. Apple is supposedly using a full-screen display with no visible interruptions, with the front camera and Face ID all under the display.
Digital Chat Station has a fairly large following among social media-based leakers, and has been fairly accurate with rumors in the past.
Repeated rumor
While the timeline presented by Digital Chat Station seems plausible, it may be because this has been raised multiple times before. Sometimes from other posts from Digital Chat Station and their contemporaries.
For example, on May 15, the leaker posted that the iPhone Fold would receive both under-screen and hole-punch cameras, depending on the display. They also claimed on May 5 that the iPhone 18 Pro models will use an under-display Face ID system, while the non-Pro models would have a typical punch-hole camera.
The timing of it starting in 2026 has also been brought up, with an earlier anticipated introduction apparently pushed back from the iPhone 17 generation in May 2024.
There were even reports in late 2023 of an under-screen Face ID function apparently arriving on the iPhone 18 at the absolute earliest.
The Apple supply chain obviously has to deal with considerable challenges in implementing an under display Face ID system. Embedding infrared dot emitters and receivers under an illuminated display is difficult to pull off, and could even force Apple into looking at other ways to handle biometric security.
Even so, the timing of under-display Face ID in 2026 and later does still feel right.
