iPhone 12 series has a gap between screen & frame? Here's what you need to know

The iPhone 12 series appears to have a gap between the screen and frame that’s wide enough to fit in visiting cards. And users are definitely not pleased given the slew of complaints across several platforms.

Even the slightest gap is usually sufficient to accumulate dust and grime over a period of time and the Apple iPhone 12 series doesn’t behave any different.

Was cleaning my Black iPhone 12 this morning and noticed these dust particles in between the screen and the metal frame. is anyone also having the same issue?
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Has anyone noticed this tiny gap between the screen and the frame which collects dust and dirt?
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The Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, and the iPhone 12 Mini all seem to be equally affected by this problem.

It is important to highlight here that Apple’s latest smartphone lineup isn’t the only one plagued with this issue though, as previously, the Google Pixel 5 had drawn plenty of flak for the same.

And while Google quite cunningly had tried to brush the problem under the rug by calling it a “normal part of the design”, Apple has chosen to remain completely mum about it.

Other devices affected by the issue are the Samsung Galaxy Note 20.

So it does appear that this year’s major flagships all ship with this annoying little problem, doesn’t it? Not exactly, as there were similar reports from the last generation iPhone 11 and even the iPhone XS.

What has changed though is the fact that this year’s iPhones have a flat display, unlike their predecessors that had a so-called 2.5D curved glass. This is just a gimmicky term for displays that have a subtle curve along the edges.

And this slight change means that the frame is wrapped around the display glass. So this could, in turn, mean that the gap is a deliberate part of the design to leave a little room for the glass’s ever so slight expansion and contraction due to temperature fluctuations.

All this has seemingly resulted in a wider and more noticeable gap when compared to previous generations of the iPhone.

So it does appear that the gap is indeed a part of the design and nothing to worry about. Hence, it shouldn’t affect water resistance too.

Nevertheless, there are several other complaints that state that the gap isn’t uniform across all edges.

If that was the case, the gap will be all around the display not just parts of it. In my case, it’s just the left hand side of the display, others at the bottom etc.
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Again, this shouldn’t be a problem as the phone has obviously passed Apple’s rigorous quality checks. But if the gap is excessively wide and too inconsistent, then there is no harm in opting for a replacement.

With that being said, be sure to also check out our dedicated iPhone 12 series and iOS 14 bug/issues tracker.

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