iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max ditch the notch—sort of

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Enlarge / The iPhone 14 Pro includes a pill-shaped cutout that resizes dynamically as you use the phone. (credit: Apple)

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple's new flagship phones have been revealed, and critics of the iPhone's design since 2017 will be happy to see that the company has taken a new approach to the camera and sensor notch at the top of the screen.

Instead of a notch descending from the top of the display, the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max use a pill-shaped cutout several pixels below the bottom to house the selfie camera, 3D sensor, and more. Called the "dynamic island," it takes up less of the screen than the notch by default, but it can resize itself to show different status indicators and other UI elements, blurring the line between the cutout and the rest of the screen. Tapping the dynamic island can also expand it to show more controls, or take you to a music or calling apps.

The "Dynamic Island" resizes itself based on how you're using the phone. (credit: Apple)

The new iPhone's screen sizes are staying the same, at 6.1 and 6.7-inches, but they have a few all-new features (in addition to returning ones, like the 120Hz Pro Motion feature). The screens have a maximum brightness of 2000 nits, and Apple has also added an Apple Watch-esque "always-on" display features that can display the clock, iOS 16's new widgets, and a few other things. The display's refresh rate can drop as low as 1Hz when you're not interacting with it, to save battery life.

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