Samsung Galaxy A8s Replaces Notch with a Hole

The quest for the perfect smartphone hasn’t been an easy one. When Samsung introduced the Infinity Display with the dual curved edges, we were wowed. But those phones still had chins and foreheads. To overcome this, just about everybody has introduced the notch. We see it on everything from the Pixel 3 XL to the iPhone XS. But the teased Samsung Galaxy A8s could be getting rid of the notch for good, giving us the first true full-screen smartphone. Sort of. Because there’s a hole.

The display open hole camera technology will become the mainstream technology in 2019, then you think, where is the camera position better? pic.twitter.com/4mh5G7CbeT

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) October 18, 2018

Along with the Samsung Galaxy A9s and Galaxy A6s, Samsung held an an event in China where they teased at the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A8s. I guess they’re “borrowing” this whole “s” naming scheme from you-know-who too.

Samsung didn’t really come forward with any specific information about the Galaxy A8s aside from that massive image on the panoramic projection above. The most notable feature, of course, is that completely bezel-free design. It’s got the Infinity Display on the left and right, but more notably, both the chin and forehead appear to be absent too. No more bezels. At all.

But things aren’t completely how they seem. Perennial tech leaker Ice Universe points out that this new smartphone would be replacing the notch with a hole. Samsung would drill a hole so that the front-facing camera can peek through and take photos and videos as it normally would. You can see the mockups in his tweet above.

The one with the camera in the middle almost looks like the Essential Phone if they just wrapped up the hole in a rounded notch, don’t you think? It’s just conjecture at this point, but another possibility is that the camera in the Galaxy A8s is actually hidden behind the display. The pixels would just turn off when the camera is in use, turning back on when you’re done with the camera.

If true, that’d be way more elegant than the motorized camera module on the Vivo APEX and NEX. And this could pave the way for the bezel-free design on a Galaxy S10.

Remember that Samsung is moving toward introducing new features in mid-range phones now. We already see a four camera system on the Galaxy A9, for example. If true, then will the Galaxy S10 have both a quad camera on the back and a “hidden” front camera with a display hole in the front?