Why does the iPhone X notch exist?
On the 12th September, 2017, Apple announced 2 new iPhones in production — the familiar iPhone 8, as well as the much more controversial iPhone X (pronounced 10!).
Boasting a new full-body display that likely contains more pixels than any of our laptop screens today, this phone represents Apple’s experimental leap forward in mobile phone technology. The screen is what everyone’s eyes fall upon — which of course, naturally lead to the notch on the top.
The notch exists, in functionality, to house the phone’s front facing speaker, as well as Apple’s newly designed TrueDepth camera. This hardware allows the phone to perform complete 3D facial recognition (pictures won’t even bamboozle it!). But one can argue, should the notch exist aesthetically? Apple is a company known highly for its premium design choices, and the notch really does seem odd in comparison to Apple’s past uniform fascinations.
What choices did Apple have? What if Apple had chosen to hide the notch, by blending in the background on the “wings” of the phone?
In the past, iPhones had traditional IPS displays which were backlit. This meant that even if the phone was displaying nothing but a black screen, you would be able to still see the light shining through. However, the new iPhone X uses an OLED (Organic LED) screen, which does not contain a backlight — rather, each individual pixel illuminates itself. A black pixel would mean that the pixel is literally turned off — so if you decided to view a black background image at night time on the iPhone X, your screen would literally emit no light at all, as if the screen was not even on.
Apple could have used this to perfectly blend in the “wings” on the iPhone X with the notch, to create a seamless top bezel. The segments of the screen could even still function, displaying status icons such as WiFi and battery.
The iPhone’s iconic look
Ever since Steve Jobs announced the creation of the first iPhone, its design has fundamentally left an impression on every single person. Everyone is exposed to iPhones every single day, whether it be from seeing someone with one, or from Apple’s rigorous marketing campaigns.
For example, take a look at this wireframe below.
I’d almost be certain that the first idea that pops into your head was that “it looks like an iPhone”. Despite the mass amount of phones saturating the market in our modern time borrowing similar designs, our brains don’t even consider them.
So what’s Apple’s secret? In my opinion, it was the home button. Seeing that familiar round circle at the bottom of any rectangular screen would automatically link the idea to being Apple’s iPhone. This was also the reason why most people probably felt a bit strange when seeing how Apple removed that iconic square inside the circle after introducing Touch ID.
The home button was scrapped entirely on the latest iPhone X, all in favour for more screen real estate. This would present a massive issue in the future: if all phones follow the modern trend of becoming full display, how will Apple keep the iPhone’s identity?
Suddenly, it becomes a whole less distinguishable in every consumer’s mind.
From Home Button to Notch
I believe Apple’s design choice of including the notch on the iPhone X is purely for marketing — to create the next iconic design that all consumers will instantly know as “iPhone” upon glance.
The notch makes the iPhone X truly unique in its own way, and clearly distinguishable from its competition. Apple has completely embraced this notion through all their promotional material, seen on their online advertisements and website.
In my opinion, I feel like initial reactions to the notch being “ugly” or “horrendous” will go away with time. People are simply jumping to conclusions without giving the design choice a chance yet. People thought the iPhone 4’s rectangular design was horrible, and then they got used to it. People thought the iPhone 6’s antenna bands were ugly, and then they got used to it. We’re going through the same type of problem all over again!
I strongly believe the notch will be here to stay, and will redefine how we think of the iPhone into the future. Apple is definitely succeeding — look at the image below, and what’s the first thing that comes up in your head?
