Samsung Note 9 and S10: new images show they may hide the front camera, speaker and fingerprint reader under the screen...

...Or they might just have a notch, like Apple iPhone X

Samsung notch

First, Apple released the iPhone X with that notch, which was greeted with mixed reactions. Now everyone is adding a notch as the latest fashion statement - or because they understandably can’t figure out how else to get rid of bezels but keep a front cam. Now even Samsung is looking into a notch, potentially for its Galaxy S10 and Note 9.

Samsung filed documents to the Chinese patent office in March which show off a smartphone that features its very own Apple iPhone X style top notch on the front of the handset. Although this one appears smaller, suggesting Samsung will either be cramming less tech into the space, or the same amount but more efficiently.

On the back is a side-by-side dual camera setup, but seemingly no fingerprint reader, suggesting we may finally see a Samsung phone with a fingerprint reader under the screen.

More intriguingly, and taking underscreen tech much further, a second patent was filed which shows a Samsung phone with no top notch, no front buttons, no speaker, no sensors, no nothing in fact: just pure screen. 

This is the ideal handset we’re looking for, right? It would mean placing the front facing camera, speaker, sensors etc behind the glass screen. As is often the case with initial patents, no indication is given how this might be achieved, or when.

So for now, despite Samsung releasing a TV advert that directly ridicules Apple’s iPhone X notch (below), it looks like it may yet jump on that bandwagon. 

Luke Edwards

Luke is a former freelance writer for T3 with over two decades of experience covering tech, science and health. Among many others Luke wrote about health tech, software and apps, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and plenty more. In his free time, Luke used to climb mountains, swim outside and contort his body into silly positions while breathing as calmly as possible.