Opinion: Apple just made an outdated feature a USP on iPhone 14 Pro

• Apple has finally changed the notch design on iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
• The new capsule-shaped notch is called Dynamic Island.
• It's an interactive notch that blends into the UI animations and is also the key design change on the new models.

Apple finally wrapped up its highly-anticipated Far Out event, and the world has finally seen the new iPhone 14-series. This year's updates had some firsts, especially with the new Watch Ultra, an iPhone 14 Plus instead of Mini and a few features on the iPhone 14 Pro.

But the 'Dynamic Island' caught my attention the most, and it's probably the most significant distinction between the iPhone 13 Pro and the 14 Pro. It's Apple's version of the notch, which interacts. Is it good or bad? That's entirely subjective.

I saw opposing opinions while strolling through social media and from friends. Some want to buy the iPhone 14 Pro just for the 'Dynamic Island', and some have cancelled it, calling it ugly and outdated.

Almost every recent iPhone has been criticised for keeping the notch, whereas their Android counterparts have managed to make it very small and even invisible with in-display cameras. But their reliability on a fingerprint reader persists, whereas Apple dropped it on iPhone X and has relied only on Face ID since then.

But, again, Face ID is the best implementation of facial biometrics to unlock a phone, and none of the Android phones offers an alternative. So instead, they primarily rely on fingerprint sensors, and the focus has been on shrinking the notch size and hiding the front camera to give a seamless view of the display.

Apple previously reduced the notch size but never got rid of it because Face ID demands real estate as it packs 'TrueDepth camera system', which consists of depth sensors, cameras and a dot projector. After keeping the same notch from iPhone X to iPhone 13 series - Apple finally resorted to what it's calling a 'Dynamic Island'. It's nothing but a fancy name for a capsule-shaped black notch at the top of the display that has all the hardware mentioned above.

Apple needed to do something about the notch — and what they did is clever

It's essentially Apple's final solution to 'we need to do something about the notch' discussion. Of course, the notch-hater or the seamless display lovers won't be impressed, but I think this is the best implementation of the notch we've ever seen. The new capsule notch and its animation bring cosmetic exclusivity to the new iPhone 14 Pro models, and that's how Apple has brilliantly made its most outdated feature its USP. Those who don't mind the iPhone's notch will love this.

However, it remains to be seen how it looks and whether it will make the UI more intuitive. Also, it would be interesting to see how third-party app developers utilise this feature. Some use cases can be for apps to provide information like sports scores, ride-sharing or news tickers.

Looking at what it does now, it's impressively clever of the company to come up with this because we've seen thousands of Android phones with a notch, but not one used it the way Apple did. Going by my experience of using the iPhones for several years, I expect fluid and smooth animations that will complement the idea well. The key requirement for it to work flawlessly is processing power, and good software optimisation - the combination of A16 Bionic chipset and iOS 16 can achieve it.

I am not the only one to find it cool; even former OnePlus founder and consumer tech brand Nothing's chief Carl Pei called it “smart,” among many others.


That's because Apple has blended the hardware with UI in a way that it seems one. The TrueDepth camera unit is said to be redesigned so that it takes lesser display area and uses it to show important alerts, notifications, and activities. Dynamic Island maintains an active state to let access to controls by simply tapping and holding it. For example, background activities like Maps, Music, or a timer remain visible in a small area and expand to show more information if you tap it.

Here's a video of the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island in action.


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