THERE’S a strange design illusion on the bottom of your iPhone – you may have missed it completely.
Apple has been playing a visual trick on you for years.
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At first glance, the bottom of your iPhone looks totally normal.
You’ll see a Lightning port for charging your phone, possibly an antenna strip, and two speaker grilles.
Only one of your speaker grilles doesn’t actually contain a speaker at all.
Yes, the left one is a “fake” – and has been ever since the iPhone 7.
You can even test it out yourself.
Play some music and then cover the right speaker grille with a thumb – and your sound will be silenced.
Try it in reverse with the left grille covered and you’ll notice no difference to the sound.
Apple, why?
So what’s the point?
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It depends on the specific model, but it’s mostly for symmetry so that the iPhone looks better from the outside.
On some models, some of the left speaker grille space is also given over to microphones.
It’s a strange bit of fakery on Apple’s part, but it’s probably for the best.
You’ll also have microphones at the top of the iPhone and near the camera on the back.
Before the iPhone 7, Apple simply used a dedicated microphone hole on the bottom-left of the device.
This meant that the base of the iPhone looked uneven, which is very un-Apple.
Apple has since maintained its fake grille ever since the iPhone 7.
It’s even true on the brand new iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Now you can impress your friends and family with this strange piece of iPhone trivia.
