With iOS 17, a locked iPhone will turn into a “smart” display
Together with the release of iPhone 14 Pro, Apple’s smartphone display only last year finally received support for the Always-On function. Now, iOS 16 has significantly improved this by supporting widgets and displaying additional information (Live Activities) on the locked screen. The company has bigger plans to expand this functionality this year.
As Mark Gurman says, in iOS 17 there will be an additional mode for the locked iPhone, located horizontally, which will make it something like a “smart” display from Google or Amazon:
According to people familiar with the project, the view will appear when an iPhone is locked and positioned horizontally, operating similarly to dedicated displays offered by Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc., according to people familiar with the project. The idea is to make iPhones more useful when they’re, for example, lying on a person’s desk or nightstand.
In this way, a locked smartphone will be able to display notifications, events scheduled in the calendar, weather, etc., in the style that individual “smart” displays of competitors currently do. Also, this mode provides a darker background, which will make it easier to get information.
It is not yet known whether there will be something similar in the iPad, because the development of a new interface for tablets is moving much more slowly than it is happening on the iPhone.
Mr. Gurman also notes that Apple is slowly working on the development of an inexpensive tablet that can be used to control smart home devices (thermostats, lighting, etc.), as well as play videos and communicate via FaceTime. Along with this, such tablets will have magnetic mounts for placement on walls.
As usual, Apple refused to comment on such information.