It now stands confirmed what was being speculated for some time, that the OnePlus 6 will indeed have an iPhone X-esque notch. However, CEO Carl Pei while confirming the design decision chose to have a different approach than other phones with notched displays.
Those, of course, include the iPhone X on one end of the spectrum and the Essential phone on the other which has the smallest notch so far. Pei said the notch on the OnePlus 6 will be somewhere in between the iPhone X and Essential phone. Pei also explained the choice saying they need to pack in more sensors and hence will need a wider notch than the Essential phone but will still be smaller than iPhone X since they aren’t offering anything of the sort of Face ID. Pei even revealed the exact notch measurement – 19.616mm x 7.687mm.
Explaining further, Pei said their move to adopt a notched display has been done after much deliberation and has taken into account the general dislike among phone buyers for such a design theme. The CEO said they still went for it just to ensure users get to have more screen real estate, something that again happens to be a pertinent demand of phone users.
The executive also said they are doing more than the plethora of such notched Android phones that debuted at the MWC. Pei said they are working to optimize the software to take into account the notch at the top for offering a seamless viewing experience to the users. That includes testing of the more popular Android apps to see how they behave on a notched display. Similarly, Pei also stated videos will be optimized to camouflage the notch so that it does not stick out when watching videos in full-screen mode.
As per the image of the OnePlus 6 revealed by Pei – the first official image revealed so far – the time and date notification has been moved to the left while network and battery info is shown in the right. Pei said it’s just that the notification bar has been moved to the top so that the same does not intrude in the main viewing zone.
Also, while the image only revealed the top of the OnePlus 6, the bottom is almost confirmed to have a chin as well. Pei said a chin is inevitable in an Android device considering that that area houses a ribbon that connects the display with the logic board. So while the top of the phone would almost be an iPhone X lookalike, the bottom could be said to have been taken from the Essential phone. Pei, of course, hasn’t confirmed that given that the executive was more intent defending the notch at the top than the chin at the bottom.
Further, going by the image of the phone revealed by Pei, it looks to have been taken from the final production line already. That also points to an early release than what Pei had suggested during the CES, that of around the June – July period.
OnePlus 6: Leaked shots reveal iPhone X-like notch with tallish 19:9 stance
We have already seen the rear of the phone in an earlier leak, and that did look mesmerizing with its textured wooden back. Now with the front confirmed to have a notch and chinned look, it remains to be seen how the company’s fans would react to it.
