Smartphone companies are going a little crazy with the iPhone X-like notch at the top of the screen. It’s amusing considering how many made fun of it when Apple first came out with it. But that, it seems, is forgotten.

Apple had a good reason for their notch: they needed the space for special components such as for the True Depth camera and other stuff that made their brand of facial recognition, Face ID, possible. But what are others doing with a notch? Let’s see...

Huawei P20

Huawei is about to launch three new P20 variants, all of which are rumoured to be wearing the notch. There may be three cameras on one of these phones and there certainly will be a face recognition option for unlocking them, but not the depth sensing variety that Apple is using with its 3D projection camera under the iPhone X’s notch. So it’s a mystery why Huawei should need the notch.

OnePlus 6

Those who are scouring the internet for any scrap of information they can get on the next OnePlus phone have decided that there will probably be a display notch on it too. Everyone is now trying to maximise screen space, so that may be about the only reason OnePlus would go in for a notch if they do, but not much more can be said at this point about ‘Enchilada’ — apparently the code name for the OnePlus 6.

Nokia 9

Rumours are that the Nokia 9 will have quite an iPhone-like notch for unknown reasons. It will also come with the other much-hyped feature that only Vivo has come up with so far — the under-display fingerprint sensor.

Oppo F7

Another notch aspirant, the Oppo F7 has shown up in images from Oppo announcing the notch on the top of the screen. Again, no clear reason why it needs to be there. With that, the phone is said to be looking like the iPhone X and the OnePlus 6, which of course hasn’t been seen yet.

Vivo V9

Leaked images show an upcoming Vivo V9 smartphone with a notch and a dual camera set-up. Vivo was aggressive most of the past year in its intense wooing of brand ambassadors and other active publicity. No idea why it needs a notch but Vivo does want to maximise space on the screen and has recently showcased a concept phone on which they have an under-display fingerprint sensor and everything else from the front moved towards the back.

The selfie camera is a pop-up one. This all-screen phone however was just a concept as it isn’t practical to have moving parts on the phone.

LG G7

Even the name for this phone is not certain yet, but when it does arrive, the smartphone is rumoured to be coming with an optional notch. This will be achieved with sofware, blackening out the sides to bring back that symmetry that’s so important visually. It seems a peculiar implementation but anything to get more screen real estate.

The phones listed here aren’t the only ones taking things up a notch, so to speak. Google is making sure the next version of Android, that’s Android P or 9.0, will account for the notch and allow software to be created to accomodate it in some way. It’s now over to developers to work to see that the notch and their apps get along well.

For all that, many aren’t particularly looking forward to notched phones and term it the worst design trend on phones ever. It will be doubly funny now if Apple goes and gets rid of the notch they started and everyone scrambles to keep pace.

But a totally borderless screen is in any case the holy grail for phone makers now, televisions having more or less achieved it.

In fact, the tolerance for thick bezels on a phone has now gone down to zero and any device that comes with prominent borders is going to look like the old bulky TVs of yesteryear that look quaint but wholly unattractive now.

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