The notch on iPhones has been pretty much the same since the release of the iPhone X. Where most manufacturers, in their attempts to minimize distractions on the display, have shifted to pop-up selfie cams and punch holes, Apple is still developing phones with notches.
However, that might change soon. Recent rumors suggest that Apple is working on minimizing notches on its phones in the near future. Soon after these rumors surfaced, Apple Insider came across a patent titled “Sensing System for Detection of Light Incident to a Light Emitting Layer of an Electronic Device Display”.
The publication details a new system that will use a light sensor embedded beneath the display for Face ID as well as Touch ID. The documentation reveals two potential implementations of the technology.
In the first case scenario, the sensor will act as an optical fingerprint sensor. It will assemble an image of the object touching the screen which will give it a hint to activate Touch ID. According to the patent, for this operation, the system will use an ambient light sensor.
For the second implementation, the system will use photodiodes or solar cells in order to assemble the pixels of the image. The electrical signals from the photodiodes will be accumulated to sense the intensity of light as well as color. This points to Face ID which could be seen in a future iteration of the iPhone.
However, Apple files a lot of patents, and only a handful of the technologies make it to the mass production phase. Hence, take this information with a grain of salt.
