Always on for some, sometimes on for others
The Dynamic Island wasn’t the only big change to the screen that Apple made with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max – the company also gave them an always-on display. As with the Dynamic Island, this was exclusive to the Pro models, but will it remain a Pro-exclusive with the iPhone 15 line?
After all, the Dynamic Island – which we were big fans of in our iPhone 14 Pro review and iPhone 14 Pro Max review – is rumored to be trickling down to the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, so it’s not unrealistic to think the always-on display could as well.
Below then, we’ll look at the rumors to see whether we’re likely to get an iPhone 15 always-on display, and which models specifically will and won’t have this feature. Before that though, we’ve included an overview of what an always-on display actually is, and what Apple’s take on it is like.What is an always-on display?
An always-on display is much like what it sounds – a screen that’s never (or rarely) actually off. In practice, what that means is that when you press the power button to turn the screen off (or it turns off on its own through inactivity), it will still display some information, rather than going totally black and blank.
This could include things like the time, the date, and notifications. It’s a feature that Android phones have had for a while, but it only arrived on iPhones with the iPhone 14 Pro line.
Different phones handle it a bit differently, with most Android phones displaying the screen in black and white when the always-on display kicks in. This is likely both to conserve battery and make it not look like you’ve simply left the screen fully on. However, Apple’s approach involves color, albeit more muted shades than when you wake the phone up.
With Apple’s always-on display, you can optionally show the lock screen wallpaper and notifications, or you can disable one or both of those options. With both disabled, the always-on display will just show the time and any other widgets you’ve set up on your lock screen, against a black background.
