Huawei teaser image suggests a phone with a ‘pinhole’ notch

Some people hate the notch and rue the day that Apple’s iPhone X gave it validation. Even though notches are necessary to create room for a front-facing camera, there’s no question it disturbs the symmetry of a true edge-to-edge display.

A few manufacturers have introduced solutions like a pop-up camera, Huawei’s next big smartphone release offers a different approach: instead of a notch, it’ll have a hole. In a teaser image, the top-left corner of the front of the device shows the kind of flare you might expect from a camera flash. That could be literally what it is, or maybe Huawei is taking some artistic license and alluding to a single-lens selfie camera.

In either case, the flare is low enough on the front of the device to imply this is an edge-to-edge display, because if it’s not, the “forehead” would be huge and not at all in keeping with current smartphone design. The inevitable conclusion: The device has a “punch hole” notch, something we haven’t yet seen in smartphone design, although there are rumors that an upcoming Samsung Galaxy phone will sport one as well.

It’s an unusual choice to retain a bezel-less display, and you could argue that there are worse places for it. It’s up to you whether this is a better or worse solution than, say, a notch like the one on the Google Pixel 3 XL.

Since Huawei’s notch appears to be a single pinhole, it likely rules out the chance of dual cameras on the front, or any extra sensors.

Samsung’s punch-hole notch is rumored to be called an “Infinity O” display. Both @UniversesIce and SamMobile believe it will first appear in the Galaxy A8S and then the Galaxy S10.

One thing is certain. As long as there are devices with notches (some bigger than others), device manufacturers will attempt to innovate by removing, moving, or hiding said notch.