Apple plans to keep the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro, but in a smaller form. The latest leaks point to a refined front panel rather than a full redesign. The change centers on how Face ID components sit under the display.
Ross Young, a respected display analyst and former VP at Counterpoint Research, backed a new explanation shared on X by the Chinese leaker Instant Digital. Young said this matches what he hinted at last year.
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Only the IR flood illuminator would move under the display. The dot projector, infrared camera, and selfie camera would stay inside a smaller, centered Dynamic Island. Another Chinese leaker supported this view, aligning with earlier reporting from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
This directly challenges a report from The Information journalist Wayne Ma, which suggested a hole-punch cutout. That claim now looks like a misunderstanding, mainly because of the bad translation of certain Chinese and Korean leaks.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro in September. If these reports hold, the iPhone 18 Pro will mark another step in Apple’s gradual shift toward a cleaner display, not a sudden break from the Dynamic Island design.
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