iPhone 18 Pro's Dynamic Island Shrinks — Gurman Says It Doesn't Vanish
MacRumors restated it this week: Face ID's flood illuminator moves under the glass, so the island gets smaller. Gurman says it does not disappear. The 17 Pro you can buy today still has the old cutout.
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What I actually believe today (August 25, 2026): the iPhone 18 Pro keeps a Dynamic Island. It just gets smaller. That is the leftover beat I parked on the calendar post. MacRumors restated it Sunday in the 12-feature recap, and again Monday in the display-size note. This page is that cutout, not another fold recap.
I am not treating a pinhole as the plan. Wayne Ma at The Information has said Apple wants the island gone, with a camera hole in the upper-left. MacRumors' Monday recap puts Gurman on the other side: slimmed-down, not removed. Display analyst Ross Young is in the same camp as Gurman — under-display Face ID is possible, a cutout is still there.
##### What the current recaps actually say
MacRumors, August 23 (Joe Rossignol): Face ID's flood illuminator moves under the screen. That is the mechanism they name for a smaller island on the 18 Pro models. They do not give a millimeter.
MacRumors, August 24 (Tim Hardwick): display sizes stay 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch. The change on the front is the cutout. Ice Universe's claim in that piece is "approximately 35% narrower" — about 13.5mm vs about 20.7mm. That is a Weibo leaker, not Gurman. I will not put 35% on a spec sheet.
9to5Mac on August 19 and August 21 repeats the ~35% figure and is explicit that some Face ID parts go under the glass, not all of them. They say this is not a hole-punch. CNET's iPhone 18 roundup has the same split: Gurman and Digital Chat Station on a smaller island, Ice Universe on 35%, and MacRumors on partial under-screen Face ID that still needs a cutout. AppleInsider's August 7 Pro roundup has been on smaller-island-not-gone for weeks. Jeff Pu, in that piece, still expects Face ID to be there.
MacRumors also says Apple had two molds on the table and "a final decision has only recently been made." Option A is the 17 Pro screen. Option B is a "Mini Dynamic Island" with the Face ID receiver and transmitter under the display. I cannot verify which one won. I am not inventing a CAD.
##### What I am not writing today
Yesterday was Gurman's fold testers and the missing telephoto. That page is done. A20 on 2nm, the variable-aperture main camera, Dark Cherry, and the C2 modem are still in the rumor pile. They are not this page.
##### My note, not a leak
I still notice the island first when someone unlocks a Pro at a Mission café. A smaller pill is a real change. A vanished island is a different phone. Gurman is describing the first one.
If you want today's Dynamic Island, the phone that exists is the iPhone 17 Pro — Renewed 256GB Deep Blue on that card. If the cutout is not why you buy, iPhone Air is the live slab. I am not quoting our catalog dollars on either card.
I would not wait for a September invite to see if Apple picked the mini mold. I would not skip a phone you need this month because a leaker measured 13.5mm.
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iPhone Air Space Black, 512GB (Unlocked)
iPhone Air. The thinnest iPhone ever. 6.5-inch display, durable Ceramic Shield front and back, A19 Pro chip, 48MP Fusion camera system, and Center Stage front camera.