After four years, the notch on the iPhone is finally getting smaller

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Pink Iphone
Pink Iphone (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Apple is shrinking the notch with the iPhone 13.
  • The company says it was able to redesign the TrueDepth camera system to acquire a smaller footprint.
  • It is 20% smaller than the original notch.

The notch is finally getting smaller on the iPhone.

When Apple announced the iPhone X back in 2017, the notch was born. It's been a source of arguments for four years. Some say that it is an eyesore, while others say it fades away and is barely noticeable. Regardless of which side you are on, both sides can rejoice as Apple has finally shrunk the notch on the iPhone 13.

When Apple announced the iPhone 13 at its "California Streaming" event earlier today, it revealed that the notch on the front display of the iPhone is getting smaller - 20 percent smaller, in fact.

The company says that it was able to redesign the TrueDepth camera on the front of the iPhone in order to achieve its smaller footprint.

iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini have been redesigned on the inside and out, and come in five gorgeous colors featuring a durable flat-edge design and an elegant aluminum frame. The 6.1-inch and 5.4-inch displays2 feature Ceramic Shield on the front, exclusive to iPhone and tougher than any smartphone glass. Both models have an industry-leading IP68 rating for water resistance,3 and are designed to protect against spills from common liquids. A redesigned rear camera layout with diagonally arranged lenses enables the advanced dual-camera system, and a redesigned TrueDepth camera system is smaller while still packing in the same breakthrough technologies, including Face ID, the most secure facial authentication in a smartphone, but offering more display area.

So, what does smaller mean? According to the comparison between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 put together by designer Parker Ortolani, the new notch is not as wide, but is a little taller.

This new notch is a welcome change but also opens up some questions. With the extra room on both the left and right sides of the notch, will Apple display more information than it has up to this point? Could battery percentage make a triumphant return to the top display of the iPhone 13? Will the iPhone 13 mini display more information up top in general?

It's currently unclear if Apple will take advantage of this additional room. If it does, it is likely to do so when iOS 15 launches on Monday, September 20. Preorders for the iPhone 13 will kick off on Friday, September 17. The new iPhone will be available on Friday, September 24.

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Joe Wituschek
Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.