A fresh leak has given us the first real look at a Dynamic Island that can juggle three Live Activities at once, and it lines up with a smaller pill that’s rumored to arrive on the iPhone 18 Pro.
A leaker who goes by pdfu managed to switch on the three-item mode inside the iOS 27 simulator and posted a video of it in action. The clip shows the Dynamic Island cycling through three Live Activities at the same time, something no iPhone has been able to do since the feature launched back on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022. It also backs up what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had reported just hours earlier.
Why a Smaller Sensor Region Matters
According to pdfu, the code only unlocks this mode when the sensor region is under 100 layout points wide, which works out to roughly 16.57mm. For context, the sensor housing on the current iPhone 17 Pro measures 20.76mm. That’s about a 20 percent reduction Apple would need to make on the hardware side before this feature could actually ship.
Layout points are Apple’s way of describing on-screen sizing independent of a display’s actual resolution, so the number itself isn’t a literal millimeter measurement of pixels. But it does tell us how much smaller the Face ID and camera sensor array needs to get for the extra Live Activity slot to appear.
Great reporting from @markgurman. The new Dynamic Island with 3 items is already supported in iOS 27. Here’s what it looks like.
The code requires a sensor region less than 100 layout points wide, or below 16.57 mm for this new mode. iPhone 17 Pro was 20.76 mm. https://t.co/jZshu4rFXx pic.twitter.com/mL46rcEirh
— pdfu (@itspdfu) September 9, 2026
A New Reason to Shrink the Pill
Rumors about a smaller Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max have been circulating for months, mostly tied to Apple trimming down the Face ID hardware. What’s new here is the idea that Apple isn’t shrinking it just for looks. A third Live Activity slot gives the company an actual functional reason to justify the smaller sensor housing, rather than just a cosmetic tweak.
It also fits Apple’s usual playbook. The Dynamic Island has stuck with two Live Activities for four straight iPhone generations, so bumping that up to three alongside a hardware change would be a neat way to sell the upgrade as more than a design refresh.
