It’s probably the most iconic aspect of Apple’s iPhone X design, but according to a new report Apple will get rid of the “notch” design for future handsets released as early as 2019.

“Apple decided to get rid of notch design starting from 2019 models, and is having discussions with relevant companies,” an unspecified supply chain source is quoted as saying. “It seems that Apple is planning to implement full-screen that is more complete to its new iPhones.”

Should Apple decide to get rid of the notch-based design, it will need to figure out where to put the front camera and other sensors that are currently contained in that part of the iPhone X. According to today’s report, alternative solutions include either drilling a hole in the OLED panels or else using something called a Black Matrix area within the display. Apple has previously explored the possibility of embedding sensors like Touch ID in the iPhone’s display itself, but these have not yet proven to be feasible.

Apple’s controversial notch design

The irony of Apple removing the notch — if that is what it plans to do — is that public perception around the design choice seems to have shifted. Early on, people singled out the notch as a major design compromise on Apple’s part. Then people actually used the iPhone X and realized that it didn’t make as much of a difference to their smartphone use as they had initially thought. Now lower cost Android manufacturers are actually adding their own iPhone X-style notch as a design choice to try and leech a bit of Apple’s aesthetic cool.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that Apple could ditch, or at least downside, the notch, however. A previous report claimed that Apple will be using a smaller TrueDepth sensor in its 2018-era iPhones. This would allow it to shrink the size of the notch. With that said, until we’ve got more concrete evidence, you should take rumors like this with a pinch of salt.

Does the iPhone X notch bother you? Do you think Apple should eliminate it in future iPhone models? Where does this rank on your series of iPhone pet peeves? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: ETNews