When Apple introduced the iPhone X last year, it practically made notch display designs cool, convincing everyone in the business to copy it. Deniers out there will claim that inconsequential phones from Sharp and Essential are the phone designs that inspired the notch movement, but that’s hardly what’s going on here. Everyone, but Samsung, copied the notch because Apple came out with a phone design that was almost perfect. The iPhone X has an edge-to-edge display, and the only significant bezel is found at the top, where all the cameras and sensors are placed. Cloners, by the way, did a poor job cloning the iPhone X, as most devices out there have both a notch at the top and a bezel at the bottom.
Samsung, meanwhile, is about to deliver the phone design we’ve been waiting for years to arrive, but the Galaxy S10 will hardly be the first phone to make use of the new display technology.
Samsung a few months ago announced a change in strategy for its mobile division, saying that new innovations will hit the market on mid-range devices first, not flagships, as it used to be the case. The companies then announced mid-range handsets featuring three and four cameras on the back, both first for Samsung. Galaxy S10 versions are expected to come with triple- and quadruple-lens setups, by the way.
Then Samsung teased the Galaxy A8s will have an all screen design with a hole at the top, where the camera would be placed. Reports later claimed the Galaxy S10 will make use of the same design next year. It wasn’t long until Samsung unveiled the marketing names for these new Infinity displays, with Infinity-O expected to be the screen version that Samsung will use on the Galaxy A8s, S10, and other handsets next year.
Well-known Samsung insider Ice Universe posted over the weekend the photo of an alleged screen protector for the Galaxy A8s, that teases an all-screen Infinity-O screen design for the upcoming mid-ranger:
However, this handset still features relatively large top and bottom bezels. Similar leaks last week showed purported Galaxy S10 screen protectors with significantly smaller top and bottom bezels.
The same leaker a few hours ago posted a different image, this time a teaser for an upcoming Huawei phone that could drop as soon as next month, featuring the same design as the Galaxy A8s and Galaxy S10.
It’s unclear what this device will be, but it’s unlikely to be a flagship handset. But the teaser suggests Huawei wants the world to know it’s going to offer the same novel designs as Samsung real soon. It’s unclear who’s making the screens for Huawei, but Chinese display maker BOE might be a good candidate. The two companies are also working on foldable displays for a future Huawei foldable handset.
Finally, a leak from AllAboutSamsung offers us a render of the Galaxy A8s top side. The phone is tipped to feature a camera hole in the top left corner, measuring 6.7mm. The same source claims the cutout of the Galaxy S10 will be 2-3mm smaller, but bigger than 3mm.
As exciting as this Infinity-O design is, there is one downside to it: these phones will likely lack Face ID-like 3D face authentication technology. Put differently, it means that a phone with Face ID support would probably require multiple holes drilled into the screen.