Smartphone notches suck. Here’s why

From the overwhelming need to create a more visually attractive smartphone every year came the notch. When in truth, most people really didn’t mind that bezel strip at the top and bottom of their phones. Not until we were convinced it was an eye-sore by the same companies trying to sell newer, shinier products each year.

Before the need for an all screen display, smartphone manufacturers found really useful ways to utilize the bezels on a phone; Multiple front cameras, front-firing stereo speakers, navigational buttons, fingerprint scanners. So while some would call smartphones with bezels “dated”, they’re actually just “practical”. Even from an aesthetics standpoint, notches have actually made some phones really ugly.

Samsung, for instance, had this figured out—At least for a while. Rather than switch over to a Notched display to house their cameras and speaker array, they focused on slimming the bezels of their phones.

The Galaxy S9, for instance, had non-existent side bezels and the top and bottom bezels had been significantly reduced. Paired with their stunning QHD AMOLED display, I didn’t think that phone was any less of an all screen display than notched phones.

Matter of fact, reverse seemed to be the case. The way I see it, Notched phones were anything but an all screen display. Literally having an area that blocks out actual content. With a notch, and whichever kind, a percentage of your actual display is taken up by hardware. And that’s an all-screen display?

In contrast, while having top and bottom bezels seems somewhat unsightly in 2019, it doesn’t get in the way of of your content. Whether it’s a 4 or 6-inch screen, content took up 100% of your actual display.

As for Samsung, they finally went for a cut-out camera. Sure it wasn’t a full sized notch, but did they really have to? I mean what really do they achieve moving the camera off-center besides good looks. It looks okay on the Galaxy S10 and S10e. But the dual setup on the S10+ and S10 5G is just a harder pill to swallow.

Undeniably, we are just going to see more and more iterations of the notch as we head to completely bezel-less, all screen displays in the long run. So I could rant all day about how unnecessary that is, but in truth, smartphone companies must try to achieve a cleaner, more modern feel to stay in the competition. Besides; shinier, fancier phones are the main reason you’d upgrade your phone yearly. And while I have my reservations against the notch, I could settle with it being a transition phase to an actual all-screen display.