Last month Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple continues to struggle replacing the iPhone's dreaded notch with Face ID Cameras Under-the-Display." The report detailed the issue that Apple is currently trying to address. Some rumors have claimed that the project may be delayed until iPhone 18. Until that plays out, Apple was granted a patent relating to the elimination of the notch on a future iPhone.

Apple's patent FIG. 2 below illustrates the current iPhone Notch design and FIG. 3 illustrates a future iPhone design with the TrueDepth camera system hidden behind the back of the display imagery.

Apple's patent FIG. 4 above illustrates a future operating environment #400 wherein the camera system is behind the display imagery. Apple notes that "although the camera #420 does not necessarily contact the display #410, the camera is closer to the back surface (#418) of the display than the front surface #417.

Apple's patent FIG. 12 below illustrates a functional block diagram of a device (#1200) including restoration optics #1220 configured to reduce image distortion caused by a display #1210.

In various implementations, the restoration optics include a bandpass filter #1222. For example, if the camera #1230 includes visible light sensor elements, the bandpass filter filters light to the visible wavelength range. As another example, if the camera includes infrared light sensor elements, the bandpass filter filters light to the infrared wavelength range.

For full details, including their 24 new patent claims, review granted patent 12124291. Apple won a different patent on the same project that you could review here.