iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island Gets the Android Treatment in Latest Copycat Effort

Last September, Chinese smartphone maker realme hosted an online competition titled "What's your dream island like?" in which it asked its "loyal fans" to submit ideas for how it could implement what was essentially a copycat version of ‌the iPhone 14 Pro's Dynamic Island‌ on its own devices. So, what version of Apple's innovation did the company settle on?

FpkbqppaIAAsY t photoutils
As reported by Smartprix, realme CEO Madhav Sheth briefly shared an image on Twitter of what he calls the "Mini Capsule," a new feature of the company's upcoming C-series phone that looks similar to Apple's Dynamic Island, just with nowhere near the functionality.

Based on the image, and a video subsequently shared by @OnLeaks, realme's slightly wider Mini Capsule looks as if it is limited to animating in response to battery charging status, and that's about it. If the feature does anything else, realme isn't letting on.

By contrast, Apple's Dynamic Island utilizes the pill-shaped area at the top of the display to showcase relevant contextual app and system information to users. When making an Apple Pay payment, for example, Dynamic Island expands into a square shape to match the Face ID confirmation interface, and when on a phone call, it expands to be larger so you can have phone controls right at your fingertips.

realme isn't the only Android device maker to co-opt Apple's latest iPhone UI feature. Chinese brand LeEco has also launched a new smartphone that's basically a shameless knockoff of the iPhone 14 Pro series, right down to the triple-lens rear camera design and Dynamic Island. There have also been apps in Android's Google Play Store that attempt to replicate the look and behavior of Dynamic Island.

Rumors suggest this year's iPhone 15 models will look similar to the iPhone 14 models, but the pill-and-hole cutout will expand to the entire lineup. That means all iPhone 15 models will have no notch, instead adopting the Dynamic Island introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro models.

Popular Stories

iphone 17 models

No iPhone 18 Launch This Year, Reports Suggest

Thursday January 1, 2026 8:43 am PST by
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle. Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
apple intelligence black

Report: Apple's AI Strategy Could Finally Pay Off in 2026

Tuesday December 30, 2025 9:01 am PST by
Apple's restrained artificial intelligence strategy may pay off in 2026 amid the arrival of a revamped Siri and concerns around the AI market "bubble" bursting, The Information argues. The speculative report notes that Apple has taken a restrained approach with AI innovations compared with peers such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta, which are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data...
apple fitness 2026 1

Apple Teases 'Something Big' Coming Soon to Apple Fitness+

Tuesday December 30, 2025 2:11 pm PST by
The Apple Fitness+ Instagram account today teased that the service has "big plans" for 2026. In a video, several Apple Fitness+ trainers are shown holding up newspapers with headlines related to Apple Fitness+. What's Apple Fitness+ Planning for the New Year? Something Big is Coming to Apple Fitness+ The Countdown Begins. Apple Fitness+ 2026 is Almost Here 2026 Plans Still Under ...
iphone 17 pro dark blue 1

iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max Users Report Static Speaker Noise While Charging

Tuesday December 30, 2025 10:39 am PST by
iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max owners are having trouble with the speakers of their devices, and have complained about a static or hissing noise that occurs when the iPhone is charging. There are multiple discussions about the issue on Reddit, the MacRumors forums, and Apple's Support Community, where affected users say there is a noticeable static noise "like an old radio." Some people report...
maxresdefault

Where's the New Apple TV?

Monday December 22, 2025 11:30 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Apple TV 4K since 2022, and 2025 was supposed to be the year that we got a refresh. There were rumors suggesting Apple would release the new Apple TV before the end of 2025, but it looks like that's not going to happen now. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said several times across 2024 and 2025 that Apple would...
maxresdefault

Hands-On With a Rough iPhone Fold Mockup

Monday December 29, 2025 10:55 am PST by
Apple is rumored to be introducing a foldable iPhone in September 2026, and since it will bring the biggest form factor change since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, curiosity about the design is high. A 3D designer created an iPhone Fold design based on rumors, and we printed it out to see how it compares to Apple's current iPhones. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Mac Pro Feature Blue

What's Happening With the Mac Pro?

Wednesday December 31, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple hasn't updated the Mac Pro since 2023, and according to recent rumors, there's no update coming in the near future. In fact, Apple might be finished with the Mac Pro. Bloomberg recently said that the Mac Pro is "on the back burner" and has been "largely written off" by Apple. Apple apparently views the more compact Mac Studio as the ideal high-end pro-level desktop, and it has almost...
macbook air march 2020

Apple Says Final Intel MacBook Air and Apple Watch Series 5 Now 'Vintage'

Wednesday December 31, 2025 8:39 am PST by
Apple today added the final 13-inch MacBook Air powered by Intel processors, the Apple Watch Series 5, and additional products to its vintage products list. The iPhone 11 Pro was also added to the list after the iPhone 11 Pro Max was added back in September. The full list of products added to Apple's vintage and obsolete list today: MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020) iPhone 8 Plus 128GB ...

Top Rated Comments

Skyscraperfan Avatar
37 months ago
Why do other companies even copy the annoying "features" of iPhones?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3530025 Avatar
37 months ago
All these copycats will be useless unless it's implemented to the Android core so it's available through standardized Android API and so apps can implement it uniformly.

Otherwise the UX will not be good.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
37 months ago
I only find Dynamic Island 10% useful on an iPhone. I wish Apple would work on under screen camera or finger print scanner tech instead.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
d5aqoëp Avatar
37 months ago
Companies should have instead spend more time and efforts to improve under screen camera tech, sensors and it's corresponding software. The Dufus island on iPhone 14 Pro is actually useless after initial hype has worn off !
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Starscape Avatar
37 months ago
That’s hilarious. A gimmick has been copied to become another gimmick.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
senttoschool Avatar
37 months ago
Dynamic Island is a gimmick to make the pill hole less obnoxious and it has a marketable name. That's it. Android phones don't need this because the hole is usually much smaller.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)