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Samsung Galaxy S10: so this is what the new notch-free design looks like. Or maybe not.
by Dominik Bärlocher
Huawei Nova 4? What will happen on 3 December? What will the consequences be for the mid-range?
27.11.2018
Translation: machine translated
According to a mysterious photo posted on Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, Huawei phones are sporting a radical new design. On closer inspection, Huawei is probably setting a trend that will make the big manufacturers' flagships less exciting.
I invite you to take a look around Chinese social media, as Huawei has posted a photo that's most interesting. Since the Huawei P20 Pro, at least, Huawei has become one of the manufacturers who make rain and shine in the world of smartphones.
This image means one thing: Huawei is making a phone without a notch, and before Samsung.
Huawei's message
Below the photo, Huawei posted the following message: "划个重 "点"，12月见。 In pinyin - the romanisation system of Mandarin Chinese - it reads "Huà gè zhòng "diǎn",12 yuè jiàn", which could roughly be translated as "make a "point". See you in December". I think the word 'point' should be understood as 'point of view' or 'sign'. Obviously, with the translation, the pun in relation to the image is lost.
Let's say the image shows the silhouette of a phone with white borders representing those of a screen! We could then deduce that this is a design devoid of any edges, and any notches of course.
On closer examination of this assertion, the term "dot" is worth a closer look. Still in the photo from the Chinese site, we see, in the top left-hand corner, a dot taking on the appearance of a shooting star. It quickly becomes apparent that the design gives the impression of déjà vu with the Samsung S10.
Below the image are the characters "自拍极点全面屏", "Zìpāi jídiǎn quánmiàn píng", which are difficult to translate. The first two, "自拍", could mean "selfie", "极点", "point" or "terminal", and "全面屏", "full screen"; in other words, "peak selfie with full screen"? Or?
What's the name of the new phone?
If the rumours are to be believed, the current darling is "Huawei Nova 4", from its model name. The Nova series is not, a priori, one of the manufacturer's flagships. In terms of performance, I'd say, at a guess, that the Novas are in the upper mid-range segment, but often go unnoticed.
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Now is when things get interesting; if Huawei introduces a new design with the Nova 4, then the mid-range suddenly gains interest. However, the Nova 3 only hit the market in August 2018, having been introduced to the public a month earlier.
The mid-range, the new playground?
Huawei is not alone in offering a completely new design in the mid-range. Leaker Ice Universe recently posted a photo showing a screen protector from a Samsung Galaxy A8.
Source: twitter.com/universeice
Samsung's Galaxy A-series, which also doesn't play in the premier league, features a protective film design that reveals a round hole for the camera.
Are the days when flagship products were used as a basis for experimentation over? Is it now the mid-range that acts as a testing laboratory? Or is it Samsung and Huawei who aren't quite sure about their rounded designs?
The answers to these questions I don't have, but I'd love to know what you think. After all, in the face of such speculation, it's worth asking people's opinions. Let's be honest, playing guessing games isn't something I enjoy.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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