The Galaxy Note 10 will be the first Android flagship to launch in the second half of the year, beating its rivals by at least a couple of months. But October will bring us a bunch of exciting new Android handsets, including the Pixel 4 and the Mate 30 Pro. The latter will launch regardless of whether the Huawei ban stays in place or not, and might run Huawei’s own version of Android in China, according to recent reports. More importantly, considering what Huawei did with the Mate 20 Pro last year, the Mate 30 Pro is expected to deliver a bunch of features that might not be available on other devices. One of them will concern the phone’s design, as the Mate 30 Pro is expected to deliver a more daring screen than the Note 10.
A Samsung leaker said a few days ago that Samsung developed displays that have a more extreme screen edge curvature than the Galaxy S10 and Note 10, but Samsung decided not to use them in any phones this year. Huawei, meanwhile, is expected to be more courageous than that, and the same leaker has more images of the phone’s “Full-Display v2.0” design.
Screen cover for the Mate30 Pro. The curvature is large. pic.twitter.com/JE70QRLpwg
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 11, 2019
Ice Universe posted a series of new images on Twitter that show Huawei’s new screen design. The curvature is a lot more pronounced than on what’s available from other smartphone makers, including Samsung and OnePlus.
This screen design has two possible advantages, but it also gives us a major reason to worry. First of all, the larger curved area will let Huawei decrease the side bezels of the phone. They’ll be almost invisible. Secondly, a curved display running all the way to the back of the phone might eliminate physical buttons. Instead, Huawei might use the screen side displays to place capacitive power and volume buttons.
The primary issue with these designs concerns the durability of the screen. The more extreme the curvature, the higher the risk of breakage.
In a following tweet, Ice also said the Mate 30 would have a notch at the top, which suggests the phone will come with 3D face recognition cameras just like its predecessor:
I guess so pic.twitter.com/54hxYDWsUb
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 11, 2019
He then showed off more images of the alleged Mate 30 Pro design, complaining that Samsung is too conservative to make use of similar screen designs:
Full-Display v2.0 leaks more and more, at least two mobile phones will adopt such a curved screen to cover the design on both sides, Samsung is too conservative, has killed this similar project, these innovations will be led by Chinese mobile phones. pic.twitter.com/mp2Y6IZjQ0
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) July 12, 2019
One of the images also shows the top bezel and notch area of the Mate 30 Pro, which indicates the phone would house a variety of sensors and cameras inside the notch.
What’s interesting is that the Mate 30 Pro won’t be the only phone to pack this design, as the leaker says that at least two smartphones will make use of these screen designs. It’s unclear at this time what the second model is. Also, we have no idea who’s manufacturing the flexible OLED displays that will be placed under these curved glass panels.