According to recent leaks from the digital blogger Digital Chat Station, the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro series will introduce two new screen sizes: a 6.27-inch 1.5K LTPO display and a larger 6.86-inch 1.5K LTPO display. Both models will feature a single hole-punch screen design and incorporate under-display Face ID technology, marking Apple’s first-ever single hole screen smartphone.
Since the launch of the iPhone 14 Pro series, Apple has adopted the pill-shaped notch design, also known as the exclamation mark notch, which has received mixed reactions from users due to its aesthetics. To address this, Apple introduced the Dynamic Island UI, which cleverly uses a black background to mask the notch, a design that has since been widely imitated by Android manufacturers.
However, the Dynamic Island is essentially a compromise to conceal the notch. The optimal solution is to place the Face ID components beneath the display. After years of technological development, Apple is set to mass-produce this under-display Face ID solution in the iPhone 18 Pro series.
The primary challenge for under-display Face ID is improving the infrared light transmittance. Although infrared light can pass through the display, its transmission rate is very low. Placing the Face ID components under the panel without optimization would slow down facial recognition and reduce security reliability.
Patents revealed that Apple plans to remove some subpixels from the screen to allow infrared light to pass through the cover glass, enabling under-display facial recognition. If successfully commercialized, the iPhone 18 Pro series will represent the most significant design change in Apple’s history, effectively retiring the pill-shaped notch design.
