Leaf&Core

Android Manufacturers Would be Foolish to Copy the Notch

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 3 minutes.

When you think of the iPhone X, you should think of raw performance, an amazing camera, Face ID, and a huge nearly bezel-free display. Instead, you probably think of “The Notch.” Hey, I don’t blame you, it’s right there, front and center, and it’s an obvious brand identifier. The notch screams “Apple” and not just Apple, but expensive Apple. It’s the MacBook Pro of iPhones, and in a way, it’s a status symbol. As a result, Android manufacturers want to copy it. But there’s a huge flaw in that plan. Take a look at the screenshots above. See something wrong?

Here, maybe this will make it easier:

Half the notifications and status items are hidden by adding a notch! Android users, is this what you want?

Ask most Android users who are familiar with iOS why they use Android, and they’ll likely come up with a few answers. One of the most popular responses you’ll hear (besides customization and default third party apps) will be the notifications. Android users are nuts for notifications. Users can look to the top of the status bar to see the icons of their most recent notifications, they can group them, snooze them, interact with them as widgets, and, really, it’s not that much better than iOS anymore beyond that. Still, there’s history here. Android users have looked to notifications as the one thing they had better than iOS. Now Google’s copying some features from iOS, like showing a dot on an app icon (present in Nova Launcher and other third party launchers for years), to indicate whether or not the app has a notification, but the notification solution on Android still feels like it’s Google’s own, not a copy of Apple’s.

The iPhone X notch. Once consider an eyesore, it’ll likely become iconic, and therefore copied by every Android manufacturer.

I’m not here to knock the notch. It’s grown on me. Sure, it gets in the way of videos a little, and, sure, I can’t see battery life percentage unless I open control center, but, really, it’s not too bad. I don’t think about it much anymore. When rumors first went around that Apple would be adding a notch to the iPhone X, I didn’t believe it would be a problem. The information displayed at the top of my iPhone isn’t important, and can easily be condensed. Cellphone reception, wifi strength, location, bluetooth? Not really vital information for me. The time and battery life were all I really care about on the top, which Apple keeps uncluttered. The same can definitely not be said of Android.

The Essential Phone had the first notch, and, so far, the smallest.

When the Essential Phone first came out, I thought it was pretty cool. A neat way to keep the camera on the front, but maximize the screen space. I think the camera might be a little more distracting on the Essential Phone than the iPhone’s notch, only because it’s smaller and requires you to think about it less (which, in turn, slows your growing accustomed to it), but it’s by far the largest optimization of screen space we’ve seen when it comes to intruding tech. The iPhone X can’t shrink the notch this much because they have additional facial recognition tech. Since other smartphone manufacturers don’t have this, surely they wouldn’t need a similar notch, right?

The Asus Zenphone 5, with an iPhone-shaped notch.

Ugh, wrong. Apparently copying Apple’s design is the primary goal for these Android manufacturers. They could forge their own path, increase display size as much as possible, as Samsung did with their wrap-around screen, Vivo has done with their pop-up camera and vibrating speaker-screen, and Essential has done with their tiny camera. Instead, they’ve sacrificed screen space to imitate Apple.

The Vivo Apex’s pop-up camera allows it to have a nearly bezel-free display without a notch.

When I first saw Essential’s solution, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Much like the iPhone X (and before the iPhone X), Android has had a split-swipe down area. Swipe down on the right for quick controls (Android’s version of Control Center), swipe down on the left for notifications. The Essential Phone’s front-facing camera helps define these areas. Also, since the camera is so small, it still allows notifications to appear on the left side of the notification bar. Essential could do some tweaking to help prevent redundancy, stacking app icons that have multiple notifications by default (as some apps already do). As an Android user, I could look at the Essential Phone and not see it’s notch as a detriment.

Motorola will be getting in on the notch copying too, and has left no room for notifications.

I can’t say the same of these iPhone posers, who have even copied the shape of Apple’s notch. They’ve left little room for notifications and status icons, thinking of imitating Apple first, and designing a good phone second.

LG’s notch prototype. Note the nearly identical curves, a direct ripoff of Apple’s design.

So, Android manufacturers, I’ll give you the same advice I’ve always given you: you will not find success in copying Apple. Sure, you might get a few extra sales, but, unless you forge your own path, as companies like Samsung have eventually done, you’ll lose your customers as soon as they realize they’ve purchased a cheap knockoff. Next time they’ll get the real thing. It’s not a sustainable business plan, and it tarnishes your brand. Samsung is still fighting the image that it’s nothing more than an iPhone copycat. Other Android manufacturers that released subpar iPhone competitors in their early days, like HTC, have had to battle that stigma with increasingly fabulous phones. Don’t damage the Android experience just to get a few sales from people who want something that looks like an iPhone at a glance. They won’t stick around, and you’ll alienate the rest of your potential customers.

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