This year’s iPhone 12 series underwent a major design change but retained one of the most disliked elements from the older models – the notch. The notch has been around since 2017’s iPhone X, holding the FaceID technology as well as front camera system. A few months ago, rumors surrounding the iPhone 13 did speak about a reduced notch size but there wasn’t much confirmed. Now, thanks to a report from DigiTimes, we have some confirmation on the notch situation of the iPhone 13.
Based on the report, the iPhone 13 will come up with a smaller than usual notch we are used to seeing on the current generation iPhone models. The new iPhone will have a new 3D sensing module that will see a reduction in the size of the notch. Hence, the iPhone 13 will retain its notch but you can expect it to be smaller, complete with earpiece and the front camera.
iPhone 13 to get new camera sensors
Along with the revised camera sensors, the entire iPhone 13 series is also said to come with a ToF sensor at the back. The report claims that US-based II-VI will be Apple’s supplier for the next-gen iPhones coming in 2021, fabricating VCSEL chips for time-of-flight (ToF) LiDAR scanners. All the four iPhone models will feature the ToF sensors, with the Pro variants getting an extra telephoto camera sensor.
The ToF sensors on the base iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini (what we assume could be the name) could benefit from the extra depth sensor in portrait mode photos. In fact, Apple has managed to use the ToF sensor for improving the portrait mode photos at night and helping with the autofocus performance. The vanilla iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini don’t lag behind in the autofocus performance but the Pro models definitely have an advantage.
The presence of the ToF sensor, or as Apple calls it the LiDAR sensor, could help Apple push its AR applications and games to more customers. The LiDAR sensor first made its appearance on the iPad Pro model from 2020 and demonstrated massive gains with AR applications.
Currently, the only iPhone models you can get the LiDAR sensor are the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. The iPhone 12 Pro series relies on the A14 Bionic chipset, features a triple camera setup with 12-megapixel sensors, a Dolby Vision-supported OLED display, and 15W fast wireless charging via the MagSafe wireless charger.
