iPhone 18 rumor hints at changes to Dynamic Island, but I have my doubts — here's why

While rumormongers spend the week arguing over when the iPhone Fold will launch, a fairly prominent Apple tipster dropped a pair of iffy iPhone 18 Pro leaks this week.

Over on Weibo, Digital Chat Station, a usually reliable leaker, posted that Apple has yet to finalize the design of the Dynamic Island for the iPhone 18 Pro models.

"Current supply chain feedback indicates A/B testing: one screen mold remains unchanged, while the other features a small island under the Face ID RX area," they posted (machine translated).

This is quite surprising as Apple is expected to debut the iPhone 18 Pro models this coming September, just over four months away. Typically, Apple would have finalized the design already and started production testing, if not outright manufacturing.

Especially, with the global issues surrounding tariffs and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, it seems doubtful that Apple isn't trying to lock in the iPhone 18 Pro by this point.

On X, another usually reliable leaker, ShrimpApplePro, called out the DCS post, noting that Apple has already set up a factory for the iPhone 18 and has parts reserved.

"There's no such thing as A/B testing a product that you: 1. already have millions of parts reserve [sic] for, 2. set up a factory for it. Seriously?"

At the end of March, another tipster posted an image that purportedly showed the iPhone 18 Pro with a smaller Dynamic Island.

Among leakers, DCS has been the only one claiming that Apple wanted to make the Dynamic Island smaller, but the company will probably reuse molds from the iPhone 17 Pro, meaning minimal, if any, changes.

Leakers don't often go at each other, so how the dynamic island looks will be an interesting thing to track over the next four months.

Slight body changes

In the same thread that DCS posted the initial rumor, they also responded to questions about the rear camera.

According to them, the new plateau design introduced in the iPhone 17 Pro models will stay the same on this year's models. However, they claimed that the rear of the iPhone will feature “minor adjustments to the body materials and design details.”

It seems to fit with leaker Instant Digital's claims that the iPhone 18 Pro will feature a new back glass that isn't as two-tone as the current design.

"The iPhone 18 Pro series features a new back glass replacement process that minimizes color difference between the glass and the aluminum back panel, resulting in a seamless look," they posted in November.

All in all, no matter what happens with the Dynamic Island, it seems we're in for a more iterative upgrade with the iPhone 18 Pro as Apple gears up for the 20th anniversary edition next year.

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