Android might get its own version of Apple’s Dynamic Island if Realme get its way

Ben Schoon | Sep 21 2022 - 8:16 am PT

Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro brings with it a clever new way to not only disguise the selfie camera and facial recognition cutouts, but actually make that space useful to the UI. “Dynamic Island” certainly has the attention of many, and it seems some Android manufacturers have plans to make their own version of the feature.

Over the past couple of days, Realme, a sub-brand of Oppo, has pretty explicitly confirmed plans to work on a version of Dynamic Island for its Android phones.

In a forum post, Realme “challenges” its fans to help create a “Realme Island” that expands out from the hole-punch selfie camera. The brand points out that this space could be used to “display incoming phone calls, alerts, notifications, and more” as it morphs to different shapes and sizes from around the camera.

This sounds pretty similar to how Apple is using the Dynamic Island, but perhaps with more central elements showing up in that UI. On iPhones, the Dynamic Island shows content such as minimized app views, music that’s currently playing, and more, while Realme’s version on Android would certainly be used more frequently.

Xiaomi President Lu Weibing also acknowledged a user request for a “Smart Island” feature in a Weibo post (via Gadgets360), but the company has put forth no explicit plans to adopt a Dynamic Island clone.

It comes as little surprise that Android manufacturers are trying to come up with ways to mirror Apple’s new feature, as it does seem like a genuinely fun and useful addition to the UI, and most modern Android phones already have a similar, though much smaller cutout on the display.

To that end, there have already been several fan-created mods for Android that bring a Dynamic Island experience to the OS. At this point, it’s just a question of who might adopt this feature officially first.