Apple’s Dynamic Island Is an Expertly Executed Bad Idea
Yesterday, during its ‘Far Out’ event, Apple introduced the iPhone 14 Pro. One of the biggest changes this year was the replacement of the polarizing notch with a pill-shaped cutout.
Apple calls the cutout the Dynamic Island because it dynamically changes in size and shape to accommodate all kinds of useful notifications. For example, it can become wider to show the charging status, seamlessly morph into a media player or navigation bubble, and more.
At first glance, it looks as if Apple has figured out a way to make the camera cutout cool, and there are many people who are in love with the Dynamic Island:
But there are three reasons why the Dynamic Island is not isn’t all it’s cracked up to be:
Reason 1: The Dynamic Island Is Difficult to Reach
The Dynamic Island and all the interactive elements it can include are located in the most difficult-to-reach part of the screen: at the very top.
The smaller iPhone 14 Pro has a 6.1-inch display, while the larger model has a massive 6.7-inch display. If your hands are smaller, you may not be able to reach the Dynamic Island with your thumb while still maintaining a firm grip on your phone.
Eager to take advantage of the latest features iOS has to offer, developers will take advantage of the Dynamic Island in all sorts of innovative ways, so Pro users can expect to interact with the most difficult-to-reach part of the screen a lot more often in the near future.
Reason 2: The Front Camera Will Have Fingerprints All Over It
The pill-shaped cutout (and the notch before it) hides the front-facing camera, so you don’t want to put your greasy fingers on it otherwise your selfies may end up being blurry.
The Dynamic Island gives iPhone Pro users far more reasons to tap, swipe, and otherwise interact with the area around the front-facing camera than they had before, increasing the change of some of their taps and swipes hitting the front-facing camera.
Sure, you can give the front-facing camera a quick wipe with your shirt or micro-fiber cloth, but you may pay the price if you forget to do so just once.
Reason 3: It’s Not Going Away for a While
As the title of this article says, I find the Dynamic Island to be a really cool-looking feature. But you know what would also be cool? An iPhone without a cutout—or even an iPhone with a tiny punch-hole camera.
The Dynamic Island integrates the hardware and software side of things to such a degree that it’s basically guaranteed that it will stick around for some time, and that’s bad news for those who would like to see Apple innovate more aggressively.
What Do You Think?
Do you love the Dynamic Island or think that Apple is just putting lipstick on a pig? Share your thoughts in the comments.
