One of the key changes in the newly announced iPhone 13 lineup is right before your eyes when you look at the display of any of the four new models: the unsightly home of Face ID technology, the front-facing camera, and the earpiece has finally been shrunk for the first time since its introduction.

Not only does it look better, but the smaller notch also provides more screen real estate for both the status bar and the widescreen content (think photos and videos) that must be molded around the notch. According to Apple, the iPhone 13's notch is 20% smaller than previous models dating back to the iPhone X, and the change is certainly noticeable in the images and renderings shown at the product launch on Tuesday (September 14).

Apple introduced the notch with the iPhone X, which was also the first model to feature Face ID. This technology requires multiple sensors, and the front-facing camera needs to be placed somewhere. So Apple wanted to create an all-screen experience, and instead of a thick bezel for the camera and other sensors, it opted for a notch to hold everything it needed.

The notch was immediately criticized and I remember finding it quite unattractive at the time. In the years since then, my opinion of the notch has not changed, even now that I have switched to the iPhone 12 Pro and use it daily. I find it ugly and severely detracts from an otherwise beautiful phone.

The iPhone 13 still seems to be going all in on Face ID. That Apple is not doing mask-friendly authentication on the iPhone 13 is another story entirely, but unless you have an Apple Watch to use the workaround introduced in iOS 14.5, you are basically out of luck.

The smaller notch is a step in the right direction, especially since Apple is reportedly working on under-display Face ID technology, and we may see a notch-free iPhone in the future. Given the current state of the under-display front-facing camera, the notch is here to stay for a while. Still, I'll take what I can get, and the effort to shrink the notch is commendable.

To accommodate the reduced size of the iPhone 13's notch, Apple moved the earpiece above the notch and pushed the Face ID sensor closer together; a 20% reduction doesn't seem like much, but if you look at the iPhone 13 and iPhone 12 side by side (or back and forth) comparison will show how things have changed.