The upcoming high-end iPhone 14 is expected to come with a pill-shaped cutout rather than the notch that's been present on the iPhone in some form since 2017. While we're still months away from the next iPhone, we already have a solid idea of what a pill-shaped cutout would look like in practical use.
A mockup on Twitter by developer Jeff Grossman shows, at least on the Home Screen, what a pill-shaped cutout on an iPhone would look like. The cutout, rather than being continuous with the device's bezel like a notch, is centered slightly below the bezel while being shorter in length and height, offering significantly more screen real estate on either side.
Apple made the notch smaller with the iPhone 13, but the extra space can't be utilized. For example, users still can't show the battery percentage in the status bar but must instead swipe down into Control Center. One would think that with a pill-shaped cutout, Apple may let users display more information in the status bar rather than let it remain unused screen real estate.
If you're interested in trying out the experience of a pill-shaped cutout on your own iPhone, Jeff has shared the screenshot used in his original image. View the image on your iPhone, lock your screen rotation, and turn your iPhone upside down to experience, more or less, what an iPhone 14 Pro may look like in your hand.
A pill-shaped cutout would mark a significant design shift from the notch that's been a hallmark of the iPhone design language since the iPhone X. A pill-shaped cutout would require Apple to fit several sensors and the TrueDepth camera system in a smaller footprint. Rumors so far suggest that only the high-end iPhone 14 models will feature a pill-shaped cutout, while the lower-end variants will continue with the full-sized notch, although that could always turn out not to be the case.
Tuesday January 13, 2026 6:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced a new Apple Creator Studio bundle that offers access to six creative apps, as well as exclusive AI features and content, as part of a single subscription. In the U.S., pricing is set at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.
Here are the six apps included with an Apple Creator Studio subscription:Final Cut Pro on the Mac and iPad
Logic Pro on the Mac and iPad
Pixelmator...
Friday January 9, 2026 8:17 am PST by Tim Hardwick
2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
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Monday January 12, 2026 7:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year.
"After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement...
Monday January 12, 2026 1:15 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today seeded the second beta of iOS 26.3, nearly a month after the first beta. So far, the update includes a couple of new features for iPhones.
iOS 15.3 through iOS 18.3 were all released in late January over the years, so it is thereby likely that iOS 26.3 will be released towards the end of this month as well. The update is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer.
Below,...
Thursday January 8, 2026 2:56 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Monday January 12, 2026 11:38 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.
"This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome," wrote Musk, in a post on X.
Musk serves as CEO of xAI, the company behind Gemini competitor Grok.
It is unlikely...
Tuesday January 13, 2026 10:50 am PST by Joe Rossignol
If you are not interested in subscribing to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle introduced today, you will officially start to miss out on some new features.
Apple said some "exciting new intelligent features and premium content" in Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Freeform will only be accessible with a Creator Studio subscription. In the U.S., a subscription...
Tuesday January 13, 2026 11:29 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today released a firmware update for the AirPods Pro 3. The latest firmware has a version number of 8B34, up from the previous version 8B30.
Apple has a support document for AirPods firmware updates, and it indicates that the 8B34 update contains unspecified "bug fixes and other improvements."
No other AirPods models received firmware updates today.
How to install AirPods Pro...
Monday January 12, 2026 8:19 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.3 will likely be released to the public later this month, but it appears that Apple is preparing to push out another software update in the interim.
Apple's software engineers have started testing iOS 26.2.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. The update will likely be released at some point this week or next week.
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I prefer the notch. The area above the pill hole is utterly useless, no functionality at all. This design also make the camera hole much more visible to the eye than the notch.
Let's hope they keep the approach of the notch getting smaller and smaller & move the bar above the notch line:
Still not getting why there’s so much notch hate, I hardly notice it
This comment comes up quite a bit.
Where do you think you hear the majority of this ‘Notch hate’? (Yup, you guessed it…) It’s only on sites like this. Do you really think people outside Macrumors discuss how much they have distain for the notch in the general public? No. Consumers generally don’t care. Most people have more important things to discuss, versus a trivial iPhone feature.
