In an attempt to increase the screen size and to keep up with the bezel-less design trend started off by Essential Phone and iPhone X, smartphone OEMs have adopted the notched-display design for the past few years. The trend seems to be nearing its end as punch-hole design continues to gain ground.
Display notches are essentially a cut-out, at the top, of a part of the smartphone’s display. With display notches, smartphone OEMs are able to provide maximum screen space without abandoning the critical hardware at the top, such as the Selfie Camera, Receiver Speaker, other Sensor, LED Indicators. However, the design style has often come under criticism for distorting the display symmetry of the phones but that did not stop the rapid rise of the design. In less than 4 years after its adoption, the steady shift to punch-hole design has come under scrutiny. Realme‘s product director Wang Wei Derek offered some reasons why OEMs seem to be shifting to punch-hole design.
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Mr Wang stated that one of the reasons for the shift is aesthetic fatigue of the waterdrop notch by users and manufacturers alike. In other words, we all are getting tired of the design style. Thus, the change in design pattern is a way of attracting users’ attention and improve market competitiveness.
Another reason he adduced is the popularity of the pop-up camera design among users who love to have that immersive full-screen design unobstructed by a notch of any sort. However, the punch-hole design is the closest and cheapest way to achieve the notch-less design without using a pop-up camera design. Manufacturers have to think of an alternative based on the cost of pop-up design and need for 5G phones with demand for a big battery.
In case you are at a fix why most of the punch-hole designs aren’t a single-hole design, Wang suggested what OEMs consider before going for a wide or single punch-hole.
1. Function-oriented: The purpose is nothing more than improving the user’s functional experience, such as adding a wide-angle camera to enhance the group selfie shooting experience. The design also allows for the adding of smart sensors to assist in the smart operation of mobile phones. Also, a Bokeh camera could also be added to give blur effects to selfies among other reasons.
2. Appearance-oriented: In terms of appearance, the single punch-hole design is usually more visually appealing. No doubt about this but some features have to be sacrificed like a powerful selfie camera.
With the current pace, most of the smartphones next year will likely have the punch-hole design, especially as OLED punch-hole displays are not being supplied by Chinese display manufacturers. Do you agree? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
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