We might wait until 2024 for iPhone's notches and holes to go for good

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iPhone 12 concept
iPhone 12 concept (Image credit: ConceptsiPhone)

What you need to know

  • Apple's iPhone 14 Pro is expected to do away with the notch and replace it with two holes.
  • Display analyst Ross Young says we could be waiting until 2024 for all front-facing cameras and sensors to be moved beneath the display.
  • There's a chance we could see the switch happen next year.

Apple's iPhone 14 Pro looks set to ditch the notch in favor of a new two-hole camera design but don't expect those holes to disappear soon. It might not happen until 2024.

That's according to display analyst Ross Young when following up his report earlier today that the pill-shaped iPhone 14 Pro camera hole will also be joined by a round one. Young was asked when all of Apple's sensors and cameras will go beneath the display, with the response suggesting we could be waiting as long as 2024 although there is still the possibility 2023 will be the big year.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously pointed to 2023 being the year that we will see all notches and holes removed from the front of an iPhone so it's possible there might be enough smoke here to find fire. However, we're still far enough out that Apple's plans could change on multiple fronts.

It's impossible to argue against the idea of a completely notch and hole-free iPhone being an exciting prospect. Add some sort of under-display Touch ID to the mix and we would very much be in the best iPhone timeline. Unfortunately talk of Touch ID's return seems to have calmed to the point where it seems unlikely to happen any time soon — if ever.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.