It's about time that the iPhone gets a smaller notch

There have been several leaks about the iPhone 12 design in the past week, and today brings another one. According to Jon Prosser's new report, it appears that the iPhone 12 will have a smaller notch for the front-facing camera, flash, and Face ID. And for many, this is a huge step forward.

The notch has always been unsightly

When the iPhone X first came out, the thing that I first noticed was the notch at the top of the screen. It was rather big and ugly, and I hated the thought of it being there, so I opted for the iPhone 8 Plus that year instead.

Then when the iPhone XS came out, I upgraded to that since there were no more new Home button iPhones at the time, and I wanted to experience what Face ID was all about. When I first got the phone, I still hated the notch, but I grew to accept it over time, even though it reduced the amount of info I could see at a glance — I miss battery percentage the most.

Nowadays, it doesn't really bother me until I watch a full-screen video or play a game in landscape mode, but I've gotten used to it. Still though, I feel that it's much bigger than it should be, and I get a little jealous of Android devices that have nothing more than a small hole on the front for cameras, while making the most of the rest of the screen.

A smaller notch is a step in the right direction

The new leak of a smaller notch on the iPhone 12, while it's still a notch, is a sign of progress from Apple. In fact, if the notch continues to be a thing, I think this size is what they should have done originally, instead of having one that takes up most of the status bar.

This smaller notch will continue to house the proximity sensor, dot projector, flood illuminator, front camera, infrared camera, and ambient light sensor, with the front-facing speaker placed above everything else. So if they could have reduced the notch to a smaller size, why wasn't this implemented in the first iteration? It would have helped mitigate much of the notch-hate, I think.

But hopefully, this is a sign of progress in the right direction. One day, I hope that the notch is gone entirely, and Apple figures out the best way to have all of those components without disrupting beautiful edge-to-edge displays.

It's just part of a more streamlined iPhone design

A smaller notch on the iPhone 12 is just one of many improvements for the next iPhone if the leaks are true. According to another leak from last week, the iPhone 12 is going to have a flat edge design, much like the beloved iPhone 5, smaller bezels, and a larger size for the rear-facing camera housing. It was also noted that the iPhone 12 might include a LiDAR sensor, similar to the one introduced with the 2020 iPad Pro lineup.

If the smaller bezels part of this design leak is true, then the smaller notch fits right in with that. It's exciting, to say the least, and I am definitely looking forward to buying one of these if the rumors are true.