The notch game is over!!

The smartphone nowadays have a cut-out at the top bezle which is called notch. First introduced by Sharp , the notch got popular as the release of iPhone X in September 2018. Following the trend of Apple, other smartphone manufacturers including the tech giant Samsung implemented this design. Some of them modified it's shape to avoid being said "Copied" which gave birth to dew drop & punch hole but the concept was the same; squiz front camera and other stuff in a little space and claim it as innovation. But now in 2020, the popular notch has started fading. The tech conscious users are now having questions like: Is the notch disappearing ? , How will the notch go? or What technology will take over the notch?

The answer to the first question: Yes, the notch is disappearing. The smartphone you will be using in 2021 will have no notch at all. The day will come soon when we will have complete bezzle less display and be sure that it will have screens in more than two sides. The front camera is a challenge for creating complete bezzle less display but till next year, an interesting solution named under display camera is making it's way. Other than that, flexible screens with resolution more than that of sAMOLED display and refresh rate upto 200hz is soon approaching. These technologies will come first in flagship smartphones and than to midrange smartphones.

Now, how will the notch go? It came with iPhone and most probably it will go with it. My words might sound nonsense because Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei have already developed pop-up & flip camera setup and in-display camera is sure to come because those companies have already released videos and prototypes of it. But Apple is known to be master of all other smartphone companies. The notch became popular when Apple accepted it. In the same way the in-display technologies or other technology that tend to replace notch will only be acceptable by users when Apple accepts it. The other smartphones will copy Apple because Apple is a brand and it's not only the Apple logo that is making the brand. 

The Apple in other hand holds record for starting new out of the box trends of technology. They ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack from their iPhone but people accepted it later because Apple took that decision. Now they are introducing LiDAR technology in their new iPad Pro which is totally taking 3D sensing and augmented reality (AR) to the next level. The Chinese manufacturers could never take such a hard decision and if someone did that, this would create hype for few months and everything would vanish ( like HTC ). Those companies do a lot of experiments with their phones and most of them are just a selling strategy ( e.g. 108 MP camera ). Apple sets benchmark of technologies for the smartphones so keeping this thing in mind, Apple can think another out of the box idea to fight with notch. The rumours have been heard that Apple will be bringing complete bezzle less phone in next few years and and they are also trying for complete portless phone. But before introducing any new technology Apple lets the recently discovered technology to get matured ( or they develop one themselves ). If Apple plans complete bezzle less phone, the whole smartphone market will get into the new era.

Now, what is going to take over the notch? The most probable answer is "Pop-up" & "Flip camera". Several tests have confirmed the durability and reliability of such technologies but it's actually not a best idea to have more mechanical moving parts in the phone. Problems like failure of mechanical parts, heat due to more moving parts & softwares unnecessarily triggering the camera will create serious issues. Imagine your phone is in your pocket and somebody calls you on "Google duo". Due to a feature called "knock-knock" which allows the caller to receive video of you before you answer the call, your front camera will be active & if you have a pop-up or flip camera than your camera has to move physically. In this case the camera tries to move in a tight space which may cause mechanical damage to moving parts. Your softwares are never free from bugs. Few months ago, a software bug in WhatsApp automatically launched the camera when a user receives a call. This was a privacy threat as well as a huge problem for popup & flip cameras as they were restricted to move in some places & conditions. Like this many other bugs & issues will arise & make things more worse. If smartphones are made smart enough to detect such conditions and act accordingly than this will cost a lot. This all factors indicate that Pop - up & flip cameras are not the future. 

Now the remaining option is under display camera. This technology is primitive but has great potential. It will enable the use of front part of smartphone as complete bezzle less display. The in-display camera can be placed anywhere in the screen which is important for space management inside a jam-packed smartphone. But how & what will the camera capture? For instance, under display camera works by making pixels above the camera sensor a bit transparent. When camera is active the pixels around the camera sensor is powered off which lets light to enter the sensor. The image captured in such cameras will need a lot of after-processing because the image will lose contrast and colours will be affected due to light from nearby pixels which are in working state. This technology looks futuristic but it has many limitations at current time (2020). 

Then what is the best solution or what will take over notch? The best solution for notch at current time (2020) is a punch hole display. The proximity and other sensors can be kept below the screen or squized at the top bezzle and front camera can be kept in a small hole design on screen like in Samsung Galaxy Note 10 lite. This will increase the screen : body ratio as well provide a futuristic look to device without any decrease in image quality. If the under display camera technology becomes matured, that is going to replace notch. If notch disappears now than the alternate solution will not be good and matured.

Solution for Face id in iPhone
There are no technology to adjust all the components of Face id in top bezel or under the display so Apple have to develop such technology or think of another idea to continue Face id without notch. Notch will go a bit late from iPhone than android smartphones.

Lastly, the trend of notch is ending soon. Let's hope that a new matured technology will replace it. We already lost front flash due to notch, we don't want to lose our image quality and intelligent features and from our smartphones.