The large pill-shaped combination cutout that's planned for the iPhone 14 Pro models will display privacy indicators for the microphone and the camera, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums.
Apple is planning to replace the notch on the iPhone 14 Pro models with two separate pill-shaped and hole-punch cutouts that will house the TrueDepth camera system hardware for Face ID, but as we learned today, the cutouts will be combined together using software, appearing as a single long, pill-shaped cutout when the iPhone is in use.
The space between the two cutouts will apparently be used to show the orange and green dots that indicate when the camera or the microphone has been activated by an app. At the current time, these indicators are shown to the right of the notch when the hardware is actively engaged, but putting them front and center on the iPhone's display will make it more apparent when the camera and the microphone are in use.
Having the green dot front and center when the camera is active will make the experience of using an iPhone similar to using a Mac. On a Mac, when the webcam is in use, there is a green indicator light that cannot be disabled, with the light located right next to the camera.
Apple will apparently let users tap on the green and orange dots to receive more information about what apps are using the iPhone's hardware. Right now, that data is provided in Control Center, with Apple listing apps that have recently used the camera, microphone, and location.
The forums source claims that Apple will also redesign the Camera app, moving most of the controls to the top of the display to provide users with a larger view of the camera preview, but this change is "still not entirely locked in."
When the privacy indicators are not engaged, the space between the two cutouts on the iPhone 14 Pro models will be blacked out so that it appears as a single cutout. iPhone 14 models will use a standard notch and will therefore likely continue to feature the same hardware indicators that are available on the iPhone 13 models.
