A new report suggests that we’ll see a OnePlus 6 notch – following in the footsteps of the iPhone X with an upcoming phone.
According to a report from The Verge, we’ll see a OnePlus 6 Notch in a similar fashion to what we saw from the iPhone X. This design choice is rather controversial, with many criticizing Apple’s new phone for the loss of screen real estate and an interruption of a display that otherwise would run edge to edge. While the Notch was also a design choice, the main reason for the introduction of the design feature was to house the FaceID and other camera technology.
Although many believe that we’re dealing with less screen real estate due to the OnePlus 6 Notch, Carl Pei, an executive at OnePlus, stated to the Verge that “How big a notch is always depends on your choices as a company…What you are essentially doing is moving the entire notification bar up, giving users more content on their screen…OnePlus is preempting discontent among its fans, but it’s not apologizing.”
It’s clear that there’s a good amount of backlash from both critics and fans. With more and more Android phones following in the footsteps of Apple’s iPhone X, it’s almost appearing as if this will be one of the main trends of the coming year when it comes to smartphone design. While some companies are including a similar technology to FaceID in their Notch, others are opting for the Notch as a simple stylistic choice. This isn’t the first time other companies have taken note of Apple’s progress and emulated it themselves, and the OnePlus 6 Notch clearly took inspiration from Apple’s flagship for the inclusion in the design of their upcoming phone.
According to Pei, the OnePlus 6 Notch will “be bigger than the Essential Phone, smaller than the iPhone.” He took a dig at the Essential Notch during his interview, stating that it was too narrow to house all of the technology that the OnePlus 6 Notch would contain – such as the device’s earpiece and front-facing camera, as well as the proximity and ambient light sensors and the LED notification light.
Although some phones are opting to include a Notch as an aesthetic choice, the OnePlus 6 notch values function over form. The company insists that they’ve done their best to maximize screen real estate for the user. The notch frees up a little bit of space at the top by absorbing notification and status icons, and the OnePlus gesture interactions remove some of the Android software keys – adding even more screen space. The gestures function quite similarly to the iPhone X, with swipes up from the bottom of the screen taking the user home. It’s clear that the phone takes inspiration from Apple’s flagship in more than just the OnePlus 6 Notch, and you can’t really blame them – given the massive sales of the iPhone X.
We currently don’t have any idea of the release date for this upcoming phone, but considering that the minds behind the device have already started coming out in defense of the OnePlus 6 Notch, it’s likely we’ll see the phone sooner than the usual June timeline. We’ll have to wait and see whether the OnePlus 6 Notch will appeal to their user base or if it will be a failed knockoff of the incredibly successful iPhone X.
