iPhone X when announced has created a big controversy.It featured a whole front display with a little gap at the top, nowadays we call it a Notch. Some call it a big step back in smartphone’s design, others a necessary evil. We know one thing for sure, it has created a new design trend for over 2 years. Quickly after iPhone X release other manufacturers have followed. It seems that we wanted to increase the display area so much that we did it without second thoughts about smartphone’s front components such as camera, speaker, microphone and sensors.
But what if someone decides to go against the notch trend? That is exactly what happened with a Samsung flagship model Galaxy S9. On the first sight it looks clean, screen area seems big enough and lack of notch does not make it look “old”. But Martin Hajek, a graphic designer wanted to know how it would look like with a notch. The result was outstanding. Samsung S9 appeared to had even narrower bezels than iPhone X. 
So we know that Notch makes smartphones more sleek, futuristic and attractive to customer. But what is a next step? Of course notch has to go, there is no place for him in all-display future of smartphones. Can we put front components under display? Not yet. There were attempts to avoid a notch but I do not think they are to stay. One of such an attempt we can observe in OPPO Find X. Chinese giant created a camera and sensors that pop up from the top of the smartphone. It allows to achieve an amazing 93.8% screen-to-body ratio.
There is a controversy about time needed for mechanism to pop up, scan your face and descend in order to unlock your phone. People are also not convinced about durability of this mechanism with users that use their camera often. Nevertheless we have to congratulate OPPO for trying to avoid notch. With 2019 comes new alternative for a notch – a hole punch camera! It was implemented in Honor view 20 and it looks amazing.
It looks like a far more reasonable compromise than an intrusive notch and more trustworthy than OPPO pop-up camera solution. We still have one of the biggest screen-to-body ratio and a front facing camera. In Honor View 20, OS still recognise front camera as a notch so you can put virtual bezels when watching full screen video. To be honest this is going to be a trend that grows in popularity in 2019, at least until we figure out how to hide camera under display. What do you think about OPPO, Honor and notch? What do you think about the future of notch smartphones?
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-apple-iphone-x-notch-2018-3?IR=T
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/oppo-find-x
https://www.androidpit.com/what-is-the-notch
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cell-phone-reviews/honor-view-20-review/