Huawei Teases Bezel-Free Display Flagship Phone With Bullet Hole Camera
Huawei, a major smartphone player in China that has had a tough time cracking the US market, posted a teaser image of an upcoming smartphone model that completely ditches the bezel, and that doesn't have a notch. Instead, Huawei appears to be taking a page from Samsung by implementing a punch-hole design for the front-facing camera.
Click to Enlarge (Source: Weibo via Huawei)
The image appears on Weibo, a popular microblogging site in China. It's basically just an outline of a smartphone that blends into the background, which itself is a picture of outer space. The translated text accompanying the photo reads, "Make a heavy 'point' and see you in December." That's probably not a totally accurate translation of what Huawei actually wrote, but we'll take what Google gives us.
In any event, what's notable about the image is that it shows a full front display with what appears to be a camera hole in the upper-left corner. This is the same approach that Samsung is rumored to be taking with its upcoming Galaxy S10.
Smartphone makers are experimenting with ways of making the most out of the available real-estate on the front of the display. Andy Rubin's Essential Phone introduced the concept of a notch, which appeared in the shape of a teardrop, and Apple popularized the concept with its iPhone X series. Since then, several Android device makers have jumped on board the notch.
Others have criticized the notch, notably Samsung in a couple of ads mocking Apple and its iPhone X, and Google and its Pixel 3 XL. More recently, there have been rumors and leaks pointing to several under-the-display technologies, and eventually that might take form. In the near future, however, it looks like there will be at least one round of phones with a camera cutout.
