It is well known that the notch design that we are seeing on so many phones these days is because of Apple. A fact that Huawei’s Head of Mobile, Li Changzhu, laments. Recalling that his company came up with the idea first three years ago; and chose not to implement the design.
Li took time to discuss the notch – which is present in the company’s P20 series – during an interview with Forbes. Far from being bitter about being beaten to the punch, he took a more congratulatory tone for the success of the iPhone X.
Instead of using the notch design, Huawei decided to play it safe as it thought that the design will be too risky, as Chinese consumers prefer a more symmetrical design. According to Li, the notched display was thought to ruin the symmetry of a phone and would turn off potential customers.
It was only after seeing Apple’s success with iPhone X did Huawei realise that it had played it too safe. Li also adds that the company missed the chance of being the pioneer of the notch design. Other than that, Li also mentioned that the Twilight colour of the P20 Pro was almost scrapped. It is because many thought of the colour being a bit “too much”.
Despite this, the whole notch is not something that consumers are clamouring for on a phone. It’s become more of a divisive topic among smartphone users. Although the design is likely to become more common now that everyone has adopted it.
(Source: Forbes via Gizmo China)
