A Weibo leaker known as “Instant Digital” proposed that a future iPhone could keep its current width while becoming shorter, with iOS preserving screen content by moving some controls into the status bar.
iPhone top layout and aspect ratio
Instant Digital imagines Apple shortening a non‑folding iPhone once its display has only a single camera cutout or the front camera moves under the screen. Removing roughly a status bar’s worth of height would change the aspect ratio from about 19.5:9 to closer to 18:9, which the leaker says could make the phone easier to hold and use one‑handed. Controls that now sit below the status bar could share a row with the time and system indicators, and combining those two rows would, in the leaker’s view, allow a shorter display to show the same amount of information. Instant Digital described the layout and proportions as personal speculation.
Timing, leaks and historical precedent
Apple has already altered how iOS uses the top of the screen on recent models: the iPhone 18 Pro’s smaller Dynamic Island supports up to three simultaneous Live Activities (up from two), and the iPhone Duo fits a compact status bar into the corner while positioning the Dynamic Island vertically along the side of the outer display. The timing of a cutout‑free iPhone remains uncertain. The leaker “Digital Chat Station” has said Apple is testing under‑display camera technology and has described an intermediate design with a visible hole for the front camera similar to the iPhone Duo.
In a follow‑up Weibo post, another user said they expect iPhones to retain a camera cutout and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio in both 2027 and 2028; Instant Digital replied that some sources say the cutout could disappear in 2028. Display analyst Ross Young has separately said he expects the 2028 iPhone Pro models to retain a centered camera cutout.
Instant Digital also said they have a growing hunch that iOS will change substantially after the 20th‑anniversary iPhone launches in 2027, predicting changes to both interaction and appearance. Mark Gurman has reported the anniversary model will feature curved glass and thinner bezels in the biggest Pro‑line overhaul since the iPhone X, and Digital Chat Station has said Apple tested a roughly 7‑inch display for the largest anniversary model with the same aspect ratio as the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
The iPhone X offers a precedent for a hardware redesign prompting software change: when Apple removed the Home button in 2017, iOS 11 introduced swipe‑up navigation on that model.
