Notch-off is the term I’ve been applying to the flurry of recent phones that have been copying the iPhone X’s iconic notch. Apple’s latest isn’t the first one to have one, of course, but it certainly put the notch on the map – for better or worse. Plenty of phones have adopted the aesthetic, take the Asus Zenfone 5, while not adopting the purpose. The OnePlus 6 will also have a notch, but unlike so many copycats, a lot of thought and care went into OnePlus’s decision.

With the iPhone X, the notch houses the facial recognition software. With several of the copycats, the notch hides nothing, whittling it down to a simple visual choice. The OnePlus 6 uses the notch to house a few things, including the front-facing camera. OnePlus’s Carl Pei spoke to The Verge’s Vlad Savov about the decision, saying that their notch is implemented with much more thought, and that it’s actually about giving more space, not taking it away.

“What you are essentially doing is moving the entire notification bar up, giving users more content on their screen.”

Part of the thought that went into the implementation was the testing of the top 1,000 apps on the Google Play store to see how they interacted with the notch. OnePlus will also disguise the notch whenever watching a full-screen video. The company doesn’t even view the notch as an aesthetic decision, but rather a purely practical one designed to give more real estate to the user. Sadly, that’s the only information we have on the phone so far, but you can expect a full reveal in the not-too-distant future. If it doesn’t all get leaked first, that is.

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