Samsung has a 5G prototype phone with a corner notch

Samsung still hasn’t officially launched a flagship smartphone with a notch, but it sure looks like it’s seriously considering the idea. 

At a demonstration held during Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit in Hawaii on Tuesday, Samsung showed off a 5G phone with a very interesting notch, located in the upper-right corner of the device. 

Very little is known about the device, except that it’s used to showcase 5G video streaming, but judging from the photos, it appears that the phone’s selfie camera is located within the notch. 

And while the entire thing looks a bit crummy (the notch appears too big, and the camera’s location is odd), it actually looks quite cool — if not very practical — when turned on (see photo below). 

Also, don’t forget that the device is a prototype, meaning it’s not polished for mass production. In fact, we may never see it in stores — prototypes often come and go without ever being turned into actual mass market products. 

Still, it’s interesting to see Samsung experimenting with the notch. The company steadfastly refused to cave in to the notch trend, and kept its flagship phones, such as the Galaxy S9 and the Note 9, notch-free. But reports say that the company’s upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S10, will have a “punch hole” cutout in the display to accommodate for the selfie camera. Samsung’s notch-less phones were perfectly fine as they were, but now that other companies, such as Huawei, are copying Samsung’s “round edges” display, the company may be looking to make its lineup a bit more interesting.