This is what an iPhone with a hole-punch and Face ID might look like

Iphone Hole Punch Mock (Image credit: Cameron.swift)

What you need to know

These images show what an iPhone with a hole-punch Face ID design could look like.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently said that Apple intends to ditch the notch on a future iPhone.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently said that Apple is looking to ship an iPhone without a notch next year with a hole-punch camera taking its place. I wasn't too keen on that idea myself because I assumed it meant the loss of Face ID. But that might not necessarily be the case.

Developer Cameron wanted to see what an iPhone with a hole-punch design might look like if it retained all of the gubbins needed to make Face ID work. So he set about doing just that, with three different options shared with me via Twitter; one with three horizontal holes, one with holes in a triangle shape, and another with the cameras hidden beneath the display.

I'm a particular fan of the first option, myself.

Check it out.

@OliverJHaslam Sorry for the delay, I finally got around to those mocks. All of these remove the ambient light sensor and sub w/ induction speaker.

1st- Based on current notch layout
2nd - Based on 11/12 camera module (my fav)
3rd - #2 with under display concept like ZTE Axon 20 pic.twitter.com/KPLJNwP3wv @OliverJHaslam Sorry for the delay, I finally got around to those mocks. All of these remove the ambient light sensor and sub w/ induction speaker.

1st- Based on current notch layout
2nd - Based on 11/12 camera module (my fav)
3rd - #2 with under display concept like ZTE Axon 20 pic.twitter.com/KPLJNwP3wv— ◆ Cameron.swift ◇ (@CameronD_swift) March 4, 2021 March 4, 2021

Cameron had to remove the iPhone's ambient light sensor to make this happen and the speaker grille has been done away with, replaced by an induction speaker. But the way this thing looks makes it all worth it.

Took out ambient light sensor, to my knowledge this could be replaced with light sampling via front camera.

As much as I don't mind the notch, there's no denying that all of these images shared by Cameron look much nicer than the iPhone 12 that we have today. I'm not sure what having these kinds of camera setups will do to the screen protector situation, though. But there are tons of screen protectors for iPhone 12, I can't imagine companies struggling to make some that fit the new camera arrays here!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.