iPhone 17 Pro Has Smaller Dynamic Island, Claims Last-Minute Rumor

Apple has redesigned the hardware underpinning the Dynamic Island on the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro models, shrinking the pill-shaped cutout with a more compact front-facing camera and sensor system, if a last-minute rumor is anything to go by.

dynamic island
The leak comes from a previously unknown source who claims to work for a company that makes iPhone screen protectors. According to their information, the width of the Dynamic Island has shrunk to approximately 1.5cm, down from 2cm on the iPhone 16.

Given the source's lack of track record, we are taking this rumor with a large chunk of salt. Having said that, we wanted to cover it because there have been persistent – albeit conflicting – rumors that Apple planned to reduce the size of the Dynamic Island starting with the iPhone 17 lineup.

Early on in the year, analyst Jeff Pu suggested the iPhone 17 Pro Max could feature a smaller Dynamic Island than the iPhone 17 Pro and previous models. Another leaker agreed, claiming Apple would adopt a "metalens" for Face ID that integrates the transmitter and receiver components, reducing the size and thickness of structural elements and resulting in a smaller Dynamic Island on the device.

Yet another source claimed the smaller Dynamic cutout would be applied across the entire iPhone 17 lineup. Later reports, however, indicated that this change might not arrive until the iPhone 18 Pro.

On the software side, one leaker claimed that iPhone 17 models will feature a redesigned Dynamic Island user interface, but they did not share any specific details about the changes that are allegedly planned.

There's still an outside a chance that the Dynamic Island will change in some way on iPhone 17 models. If so, it would be the first time since the feature was introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro models in 2022. We'll know either way next week. Apple's "Awe dropping" event takes place on Tuesday, September 9.

Related Roundup: iPhone 17 Pro
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

wood1208 Avatar
7 weeks ago
Smaller, thinner Island ? Nice. But, I like to see someday under screen, invisible, or no Island at all.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Devyn89 Avatar
7 weeks ago

But it's a feature, right? Why would they make such a useful feature smaller? How will we see it? Are they going to remove this feature altogether at some point?

I can't wait for the defenders when next years novel folding iPhone uses TouchID because they couldn't scale down FaceID over 10 years from X to Fold (but hey, we got bespoke emojis out of it, woo hoo).
They'll be compelled to give a BS reason why FaceID is suddenly inferior so they went back to TouchID on the Fold. They'll cut expensive FaceID components from all future phones then claim the Dynamic Island is underutilized by developers and phase it out. People will still buy iPhones as perceived "status symbols" despite billions sold and their shareholders will sing their praises. That won't last forever, though.
Are you ok? People are allowed to change their opinion about things. In my opinion Dynamic Island was always a stop gap feature until technology allowed it go under display - much like the home button was until the iPhone went (almost) full screen. They made a feature out of a hardware limitation as companies have for years.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BelgianChoklit Avatar
7 weeks ago
would be nice for it to become thinner too.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
7 weeks ago
Not gonna happen all the main leakers would have said this
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cigz Avatar
7 weeks ago
wait.. that "new" microphone indicator that used to be inside the Dynamic Island and now it's outside of it makes sense.
If the Dynamic Island is smaller, it could mean there's probably no pixels inside of it?

The new indicator design:


and the old one:


Maybe they made that change to have it ready for smaller Dynamic Island on the new iPhone 17 Pro and to get people used to it.

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neuropsychguy Avatar
7 weeks ago
Even the iPhone isn't immune to shrinkflation! ;)

/See also the iPhone Air where you get less phone.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)