Apple reportedly exploring more room for websites in Safari on iPhone Duo’s outer display

Apple is exploring how websites might use the space behind Safari’s side-mounted controls on the iPhone Duo’s outer display, 9to5Mac reports. In a WebKit post about Safari 27.1, Apple’s Jen Simmons described the current limitation, according to the outlet: webpages cannot extend behind those controls. MacRumors reports that Safari confines pages to the space alongside the controls and fills the remaining strip with the page’s background color. That leaves less width for content on the outer display.

Simmons suggested that developers might extend a header background across the display, as quoted by 9to5Mac. It was an example, not a chosen design. An existing setting, , can extend a page behind the controls, but Simmons warned that many websites do not account properly for those areas. Important content could end up obscured. She said Apple is investigating a more foolproof approach and invited developers to share ideas.