Apple is reportedly preparing the iPhone 18 Pro for its most radical front redesign in years, with the display set to lose much of the visual clutter that has defined recent generations. Instead of another small tweak to the Dynamic Island cutout, leaks point to a fundamental rethink of how the screen, camera and Face ID hardware are arranged.
If the reports hold, the iPhone 18 Pro could be the first Apple flagship to make the front camera and Face ID system feel almost invisible, while also pushing brightness and size refinements that matter for everyday use. The result would be a device that looks closer to a pure slab of glass than any iPhone before it, and that raises the stakes for rivals already chasing all-screen designs.
The end of the centered Dynamic Island as we know it
The most striking claim around the iPhone 18 Pro is that Apple is finally ready to move away from the centered Dynamic Island that has dominated the top of the display since the iPhone 14 Pro. Earlier this month there were rumors that the camera in the screen would shift to the left, but that specific detail was later walked back, with leakers now converging on a smaller, more discreet cutout rather than a dramatic off-center punch hole, a change that still supports talk of Apple’s biggest front-facing design shift in years according to Earlier. A separate video breakdown of the leaks describes how New iPhone 18 Pro leaks are starting to line up around this idea of a dramatically reduced cutout, reinforcing the sense that Apple is not just trimming pixels but rethinking the entire front layout of the Pro line from the ground up, with Apple’s long-term display roadmap finally catching up to years of concept art and fan expectations as highlighted in a detailed Pro analysis.
On social media, that shift is being framed in even starker terms, with one widely shared render suggesting that the removal of the centered Dynamic Island could result in a more uninterrupted panel across both iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The same post argues that this would mark Apple’s biggest front-facing design shift in years, a claim that aligns with the broader leak narrative and underlines how central the Dynamic Island has become to the iPhone’s visual identity, making its downsizing or relocation a major moment for the brand, as captured in a viral Dynamic Island post.
Under-screen Face ID and a shrinking cutout
Behind that cleaner look is a more technical story: Apple appears to be moving key parts of its Face ID system under the display on the iPhone 18 Pro. Back in June 2025, respected display specialist Young said that while some parts of Apple’s Face ID system would move under the display on iPhone 18 Pro models, others would remain visible, a hybrid approach that helps explain why leaks still show a small opening rather than a completely uninterrupted panel, and that same reporting also ties the change to Apple’s usual September window for new Pro models, giving the company time to refine the technology before mass production as detailed in coverage of Young. More recent rumors have settled on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max featuring this under-screen Face ID setup, with only the front camera itself still peeking through the glass, a configuration that balances Apple’s desire for a futuristic look with the practical need to keep camera quality high, and that is now being treated as the baseline expectation for the Pro and Pro Max pair according to detailed Pro and reporting.
That under-display shift directly feeds into the size of the remaining cutout, which several leaks describe as significantly smaller than the current Dynamic Island. One analysis of renders says the iPhone 18 Pro Dynamic Island is reportedly going to be much smaller than the one on the iPhone 17 Pro, with industry sources clarifying that the reduction is made possible by moving Face ID sensors below the display while keeping only the camera visible, a combination that should free up more status bar space for icons and content without sacrificing secure authentication, as explained in a breakdown of the new Pro Dynamic Island. For users, that could mean more immersive video playback in apps like Netflix and YouTube, cleaner full-screen gaming in titles such as Genshin Impact, and a status bar that feels less cramped when juggling VPN indicators, battery percentage and location icons.
Brighter, familiar-sized displays for the full iPhone 18 family
While the cutout is shrinking, the overall display sizes for the iPhone 18 range are expected to stay familiar, which should reassure anyone who has just adjusted to the larger panels on recent Pro models. One detailed leak says the display sizes and refresh rates will remain unchanged, with the iPhone 18 Pro featuring a 6.27-inch 120Hz display, a figure that suggests Apple is focusing its energy on quality and layout rather than diagonal creep, and that same report also ties the Pro line to a split launch strategy, a new chip and advanced camera features that could help justify premium pricing in markets like India where early buyers scrutinize every specification, according to a breakdown of the 6.27-inch panel. In parallel, another set of rumors focuses on brightness, with reports that Apple’s iPhone 18 will feature a significantly brighter display, a change that would matter most in harsh sunlight and HDR video playback, and that is being attributed to panel advances sourced from Korea’s The Elec and framed as a key reason the iPhone 18 family could feel like a bigger upgrade than the modest name change suggests, as outlined in coverage of the Feature Much Brighter.
Those brightness gains would dovetail neatly with the smaller Dynamic Island, since more of the panel would be usable for content and that content would be easier to see outdoors. For everyday tasks like using Apple Maps on a sunny car dashboard or framing photos in bright conditions, a significantly brighter screen can be more transformative than a small bump in resolution, and it also gives Apple more headroom for aggressive HDR in apps like Disney Plus and Apple TV without crushing battery life. By keeping the 6.27-inch footprint and 120Hz refresh rate steady on the iPhone 18 Pro while pushing brightness and cleaning up the top of the screen, Apple appears to be betting that refinement, not raw size escalation, is what will make the device feel new in the hand.
How Dynamic Island software might adapt
A smaller or relocated cutout is not just a hardware story, it also forces Apple to rethink how Dynamic Island software behaves. One leak focused on display specs says that in addition to the Dynamic Island related changes, the screen sizes for the iPhone 18 models should match the current lineup, which implies that Apple’s designers will have to rework the animations, hit targets and live activity layouts that currently assume a large, centered pill at the top of the screen, and that same reporting hints that at least one model could even drop the Dynamic Island branding entirely if the cutout becomes small enough to fade into the background, as suggested in a detailed look at the evolving Dynamic Island. For users, that might mean more subtle indicators for things like timers, music playback and incoming calls, with Apple leaning more on the status bar and lock screen widgets while reserving the remaining cutout for essential alerts that truly need to pull focus.
