Making the Dynamic Island standard on every new iPhone

[Jin Wah]

The entire iPhone 15 lineup will reportedly include the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island. In a tweet spotted by MacRumors, display analyst Ross Young said he expects Apple to make the screen cutout standard on all 2023 iPhones. Additionally, the company will reportedly keep its ProMotion 120Hz display technology exclusive to Pro variants due to a supply chain that “can’t support” the feature on more affordable models. In a subsequent tweet, Young said Apple is likelier to trickle down the technology to less expensive iPhones in 2024.

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Making the Dynamic Island standard on every new iPhone moving forward would make a lot of sense for Apple, particularly to encourage developers to take advantage of the feature. Some apps already use the cutout for fun features. Once iOS 16.1 arrives later this year, Dynamic Island will also work with Apple’s Live Activities API. It’s also a feature that would make the standard iPhone more appealing to consumers holding onto their current device. While the iPhone 12 was a big upgrade over the iPhone 11, the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 have been less exciting. There’s not much reason to buy the latest one unless you’re coming from an iPhone several years old, and that's not great for Apple's bottom line.

Apple Inc's iPhone 14 models contain a Qualcomm Inc chip that can talk to satellites, but have additional custom-designed Apple components used in the phone's biggest new feature, according to an analysis of the phone by iFixit and an Apple statement.

Apple released its iPhone 14 lineup on Friday. One of the major new features is the ability to connect to satellites to send emergency messages when there is no WiFi or cellular data connection.

Apple said earlier this month that the iPhone 14 models contain new hardware that makes possible the emergency message service, which Apple plans to turn on with a software update coming in November. Apple did not give details about the satellite-specific hardware.

iFixit, a San Luis Obispo, California-based firm that disassembles iPhones and other consumer electronics to assess how easily they can be repaired, took apart an iPhone 14 Pro Max model on Friday, revealing a Qualcomm X65 modem chip.

The Qualcomm chip provides 5G connectivity for cellular networks but is also capable of using what is called band n53, the frequency band used by satellites from Globalstar.

Globalstar earlier this month announced a deal in which Apple will take up to 85% of Globalstar's satellite network capacity to enable Apple's new emergency messaging feature.

In a statement to Reuters on Saturday, Apple said there is additional proprietary hardware and software in the iPhone 14 for the new messaging feature.

“iPhone 14 includes custom radio frequency components, and new software designed entirely by Apple, that together enable Emergency SOS via satellite on new iPhone 14 models," Apple said in a statement.

Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max may have only arrived yesterday but developers are already dreaming up fun and interesting use cases for Apple’s new Dynamic Island interface. Take Apollo creator Christian Selig, for instance. On Friday, he updated his Reddit client to implement support for “Pixel Pals.” The feature adds a Tamagotchi-like critter that does cute things on top of your phone’s Dynamic Island while you have Apollo open. You can even choose between multiple creatures, including a cat, dog, hedgehog, fox or axolotl.

If you don’t have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, don’t worry. You can also add the creatures to your phone as lock screen widgets – provided you have iOS 16 installed. On the subject of iPhone widgets, Google teased one that will function as a shortcut to Chrome’s Dino game.

Selig isn’t the only person doing something creative with the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island. In a tweet spotted by The Verge, WaterMinder creator Kriss Smolka showed off Hit the Island, a game that uses the UI element for a Pong-style game. You can download it from the App Store. I can only speak for myself, but these apps make me a bit jealous I'm still rocking an iPhone 12.