iPhone 17 could bring a more functional Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 could bring a more functional Dynamic Island

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 14, 2025

The Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 17 should become “more functional and integrated” thanks to “significant changes” Apple has in the works.

Leaker Majin Bu has shared some interesting thoughts on software changes that could make the Dynamic Island more useful in an exclusive interview with AppleX4.

While he didn’t say when those changes will be available, we already heard that the iPhone 17 family might bring a narrower Dynamic Island; software changes to make the feature more functional and integrated could be part of those efforts.

iPhone 17 could bring a more functional Dynamic Island

“I can reveal that the Dynamic Island is set for a significant evolution in the coming years,” the leaker told the site. “Apple appears committed to making it more functional and integrated, turning it into a key element of the user experience.”

Earlier this month, Weibo leaker “Digital Chat Station” claimed that Apple was working on a narrower Dynamic Island that might use a new component, called “metalens.” It would apparently combine separate infrared receiver and transmitter components into a single part, thus enabling a narrower Dynamic Island.

Bloomberg claims a narrower Dynamic Island will be a prelude to a major redesign for the iPhone’s twentieth anniversary in 2027. Apple hasn’t changed the size of the Dynamic Island since its debut. The 20th anniversary iPhone is thought to relocate Face ID hardware behind the display, but it’s unclear whether Apple will leave the Dynamic Island functional as a purely software-based status display.

What is Dynamic Island?

Dynamic Island is Apple’s marketing name for a feature at the top of the screen on compatible iPhone models solely dedicated to showing various system notifications and live activities. The Dynamic Island is both a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the OLED panel that houses Face ID hardware and the selfie camera, and a software feature that dynamically expands and shrinks the Dynamic Island area, as needed.

The Dynamic Island acts as a status display for system notifications, such as low battery alerts, Focus mode changes or AirDrop transfer progress, as well as active background tasks, like a running timer or a song playing in the Music app.

You can tap the Dynamic Island to open the running app in fullscreen. To see more details, touch and hold the Dynamic Island to expand it and show details. To collapse the Dynamic Island, swipe from the right or left edge toward the center. To close the live activity running in the Dynamic Island, also swipe from either edge.

The Dynamic Island first appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro models (2022), and is also available on the entire iPhone 15 (2023) and iPhone 16 (2024) lineups.

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