Rounded Display Corners on future M1 Macs. Yes or no?

[ValSalva]

What are the chances that future M1 Macs will have rounded display corners? I am 50-50 on whether it will happen or not. This post is under M1 Macs because I believe all future Macs will be M1 only and it applies to desktops and laptops.

Part of me thinks rounded corners are coming on all future M1 Macs but part of me is not so sure. The UI of Big Sur was the first clue to possible future rounded corners. The iPad Pro, Air, and iPhone have them too. But those are iOS devices. Also, it seems to allow for smaller bezels. However, on Macs there needs to be room at the top of the display for the FaceTime camera and the bottom of the display has limits because of the MBP's hinge. The iMac doesn't have this limitation though.

The reasons I think that future M1 Macs might not have rounded corners: The Pro Display does not have rounded corners. There has not been any mention of it in the latest rumors from January 15th. I'm hoping Apple wants to differentiate Macs from iOS devices.

I don't like the thought of rounded display corners on Macs aesthetically, but I'd get used to it. Maybe it will be a good thing. Maybe it will help hide the light fall-off in the corner of displays, which should not bother me either. My OCD …

I'm interested to hear thoughts about this.

 

[Mistercharlie]

Yes for UI, no for full-screen photos and movies.

 

[LeeW]

I am fairly sure at this point Apple will go with a matching approach to everything else and it will be rounded. The Pro display being a previous device stuck with the expected norm but generally I see it changing for everything in time.

 

[ValSalva]

Yes for UI, no for full-screen photos and movies.

On the iPad Pro when photos are displayed in full screen, the corners are "cut off" because of the display's rounded corners. That would seem odd in a professional environment, say in Photoshop. Seems like you'd want/need to see every pixel.

For UI, I agree. What's the point of having she sharp edge squared off corners of a display if nothing in the UI can be displayed there?

 

[Fishrrman]

Impossible to answer, because no one knows.
You could ask the Apple designers, but I'll bet they won't tell you...!

 

[ValSalva]

I am fairly sure at this point Apple will go with a matching approach to everything else and it will be rounded. The Pro display being a previous device stuck with the expected norm but generally I see it changing for everything in time.

I wonder if the rumored lower-cost replacement for the ACD will have rounded corners.

 

[Mr Screech]

Keep it square.
Once macbook's get oled or similar kind of tech, they can make it any shape you want.
You won't notice if the black part is on or off.

 

[Falhófnir]

Don't think of it as chopping the corners off the display, more as expanding the display out to fill the available space (which of course means pushing them into the rounded corners of the design). Even the 16" is meant to increase slightly to a 16.1" per the circulating rumours. The actual amount missing will be negligible, it certainly shouldn't interfere with the display of any content.

 

[redcaptrickster]

I didn't even realize the corners were not round. That's how much I pay attention. Probably because I always use dark wallpapers and the edges are less noticeable.

 

[Loge]

If they are expanding display to fill available space then that implies notch. So let's keep the corners square.

 

[Seanm87]

Yeah I’m for it. Think it would look good with big sur.

 

[spiderman0616]

Big Sur was clearly designed for Macs with rounded corner screens. Example: Right now I have Safari on one side of my screen and Twitter on the other. Combined, they are filling up the whole screen, except for those few pixels in each corner where my desktop image is showing through. Big Sur's rounded window corners were obviously designed with future hardware in mind. Not saying I'd upgrade again just for that, but it is something I notice often when working on my Mac. Developers adapted to it on iPad Pro and iPhone, I'm sure they can easily do the same with Mac.

PS: Oddly enough, in tiled mode where you pin one app to one side and one to the other, they DO fill in the squared off corners, so it's possible that Apple did the rounded window corners in Big Sur just as a visual indicator that you are NOT in full screen in the app right now. I doubt that's the case, but it's certainly a possibility.