Is a Punch Hole Camera Better than a Notch? (Premium)

When Samsung discussed its ideas for multiple notch-laden future smartphone designs last year, I thought it was nuts. But here on the eve of the Galaxy S10 launch, we’ve now seen multiple leaked photos of the upcoming family of handsets. And I gotta say, Samsung---and other Android device makers that are adopting this design---may actually be on to something as they move towards a completely notchless future.

The issue, I assume, is familiar: Phones with zero bezels look more modern than those with large “forehead” and “chin” bezels, and this design allows the phone maker to stretch the display to virtually the entire front of the device. But they still need a place to put a speaker, earphone, front camera, and various sensors, including those for facial recognition.

Samsung’s approach, thus far, is one I really like: Instead of going full bezel-less, it utilizes a minimal bezel design, and when you combine it with Samsung’s patented curved Infinity displays, it’s particularly attractive and modern-looking. You can see this design on the Galaxy S8/S8+, Note 8, Galaxy S9/9+, and Note 9.

Other phone makers have decided that having a zero- or very minimal bezels all around the phone, creating the appearance of an all-display front, is the most important consideration. So they’ve fitted the camera and other components into a notch that intrudes into, or occludes, the display at the top. These notches range from quite minimal (the small U-shaped notch in the Essential PH-1) to somewhat acceptable (the OnePlus 6), to intrusive (iPhone X, XS, and XR), to comically large and buck-toothed (the terrible-looking Pixel 3 XL).

Most consumers probably don’t think about iterative product design all that much. But in any case in which a phone maker has used a notch, the plan was always to minimize the size of the notch over time as components get smaller. And then remove it entirely when it’s possible to put the camera and sensors behind the display. At this point, Apple’s BS claims of an “all screen” phone will finally be realized.

How we get from here (big, occluding notches) to there (no notches at all) will, of course, vary by phone maker. And I had originally expected Samsung to stick with its minimal bezel design until it was possible to put those components under the display. Indeed, that Samsung had been staying away from a notch of any kind was, in my mind, one of its best virtues. But this past November, however, it alerted the world that it would take interim steps with various small notch types until it could move to a fully notchless design in the future.

This year, Samsung will implement what it calls the Infinity-U, Infinity-V, and Infinity-O displays across a variety of devices, ahead of some future time---perhaps as soon as next year---when it can introduce the completely notchless and non-occluded New Infinity display. The Infinity-U and -V displays both have small notches, similar to tha...