Lenovo Z5 Sketch Shows All-Screen Android Phone Sans Notch

A sketch of an alleged Lenovo smartphone called the Z5 has turned up and this sketch shows an Android device that has a screen that covers nearly the entire front and has no notch. The sketch was shared by Lenovo VP Chang Chen via Weibo. A message was offered along with the image that claims this will be Lenovo's newest flagship smartphone.

Since this is just a sketch, it would seem to be a concept at this point or at least a very early design, but there is no indication of how far along the Z5 is in development. The trick for designing phones like the Z5 without having to resort to a notch is to figure out ways to hide all the sensors that the device needs on the front. Things like the front camera ambient light sensor, front speaker, and the display panel's controller.

Cheng offered up no details at all on how Lenovo would be dealing with all those sensors and other front panel items. What Cheng does say is that the Z5 will leverage four technological breakthroughs and 18 patented technologies in its design; presumably some of those have to do with hiding sensors in the screen. The same exec has offered up another image of the Z5 previously claiming a 95% screen-to-body ratio. 
The screen notch is something that has become very common over the last few months on high-end smartphones. The iPhone X is probably the most known notched device, but lots of Android devices have followed suit. Some smartphone users aren’t particularly happy with the notch design, despite that Samsung has filed for a patent that shows a notched design for a future Galaxy device. LG's G7 ThinQ device has a notch, but they did equip the smartphone with software to hide it.