The smartphone notch is a status symbol

Whether you like it or not, the smartphone notch is here to stay. After the Essential Phone and iPhone X brought the notch to the masses, other major brands such as Huawei, ASUS, Oppo and Vivo followed suit soon after, and the latest to join the party is none other than LG with its G7 ThinQ. Admittedly, this is a little painful to watch considering that LG (and even HTC) once stood by its Second Screen idea well before the notch ever happened. LG had a fair reason to join this trend: People like it, and it has the numbers to prove it.

During the early stages of the G7's development, LG surveyed over 1,000 people across the US, UK, Italy and Korea. These focus groups were shown early mockups with slightly different screen designs, and when it came to the notch option, only about 30 percent said no to it, with the rest of the participants indicating that they either liked, or didn't mind, the notch.

Shintae Hong, LG's Head of Product Planning, joked: 'Some people hated that design, [saying] it's like a man's bald head like mine.' He added: 'Some people said [it is] cool... It totally depends on their personal choices, preferences.'

Source: engadget

• 916